


Chasing Starlight

by Sand3



Category: Journey into Mystery, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Marvel 616, Thor (Comics), Young Avengers
Genre: Freya is better at being a queen than a mother, Gen, Genderfluid Loki, Loki Feels, Loki Has Issues, Odin is better at being a king than a father, Protective Thor, Screw Destiny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-19 22:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2406029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand3/pseuds/Sand3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post OS:T&L</p><p>Loki gets a bit existential on the ride home from Heaven.<br/>Much introspection occurs on the nature of love, family, fate, friendship and worthiness through the course of mighty battles and the lulls in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Starlit Path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * _Argr_ , adjective form of _Ergi_ , ‘sissy’.

Loki’s hands were steadily losing altitude and their grip relaxing to the point that a sharp tug from Toothgnasher or Toothgrinder might easily dislodge the reigns from them. Thor could see the focus of her eyes fading and her expression becoming glazed and he berated himself for lacking the knowledge to estimate how much magic Loki had expended today. He didn’t have the ken to quantify how much mystical energy any given spell or conjuring used, but clearly the sum total of today’s caper had been more than Loki could easily rebound from.

Despite the mysterious growth spurt he was remaining so tight-lipped about, Loki’s current form was still less than fully grown and the feats that may have been easily achieved by the adult Loki were too taxing on this one. Thor caught the reigns as Loki’s eyelashes began to flutter and caught her round the waist as she swayed very slightly. “Sit,” he said softly, “before you fall.”

“Nothing a triple venti wouldn’t fix,” Loki murmured, obediently sinking down to the floor of the chariot and turning to let her legs dangle from the back. Thor glanced down, watching her pull aside her crown and run a hand through her sweat-dampened hair before leaning against his leg. “... I hope she goes back to space... She liked it there,” Loki sighed.

“Did she?” Thor asked. “Did you speak for long?”

Loki shook her head slowly, cheek brushing the leg of Thor’s dusty trousers. “Not really, but she kept looking up at the stars so very longingly when she thought that she would not be able to return to them.”

“Did you know it was her?” Thor glanced down at the top of Loki’s head, wondering if she was watching the stars drift past behind them or if her eyes were closed. “Did you realize that she was our sister?”

“I suspected...” Loki agreed slowly. “A wingless angel, an aberration to begin with, but then the only one among them who could match _you_ blow for blow? It was too much to be a coincidence. I had no proof, of course, and the queen herself was ignorant to it. I... I would not have chosen to out her so publicly as Father did. That was... destructive. I feel that she should have been allowed the right of knowing _before_ the rest of them.”

“... Aye, that is a luxury I wish she might have had,” Thor agreed, wondering whether Loki might be more sensitive to Angela’s plight than most could understand; for had not they both been stolen and raised by the bitterest enemies of the parents who had birthed them? “Though I think perhaps she would not have listened... But Father is not known for his subtlety, and he surely thought such a revelation to be a great honor rather than the disgrace the angels found in it. He was ignorant to the damage his words would cause, not uncaring.”

Loki nodded again. “I know,” she said, and leaned a little more heavily against him. “He can be very blundersome at times. That’s surely where you get it.”

Thor smiled softly, huffing a small laugh. “No doubt,” he agreed.

“... I spoke with the queen for quite some time and... it was chilling. It’s a whole race of _sociopaths_ , Thor. I don’t think they even have a _concept_ of love,” Loki said in a soft, distant voice. “She sniffed out my blood in seconds and she kept speaking of past alliances with the frost giants and talking as though I must perfectly understand and share all her views on the way of things.” Loki paused for a few moments before continuing. “I... I don’t remember Jotenheim well... Most of those memories seem to have been blotted out and I’m left only with fragments... It makes me wonder how right she is, whether frost giants are so similar in psychology to what I have found in the angels... There must be differences, of course, because frost giants adhere to a clan system, which alludes to an underlying family structure that angels seem to lack, but... the presence of practices like institutionalized infanticide does seem to indicate a common psychology which lacks for empathy...”

Thor frowned, again glancing away from the path to look down at Loki. Though from this angle he could see nothing of her expression, he noted that she had her arms wrapped loosely around herself. “... Loki?”

“I- I know that I am a genetic aberration,” Loki said in an overly calm voice. “And so what is true of frost giants in general will not necessarily be true of me, such is the nature of a freak. But being an anomalous mutation, it is difficult to identify what parts of me will be _like_ and what parts will be _unlike_ , simply because I am unique and have no point of reference to be compared with. And I- I simply wonder whether it is possible... through conditioning, to create an artificial approximation of love in a creature which is inherently incapable of it? For that creature to be so conditioned that it can not tell the difference?” Loki’s voice began to pick up speed and become steadily shriller as she spoke. “And with no point of reference, no frame of thought from which to understand other than that which is native to it, how could such a creature, or anyone around it, even _know_ if it feels love or simply mimics the _symptoms_ of it?”

Thor pulled back on the reigns, drawing Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder to an irritated halt. When he moved, Loki started to fall over, having been leaning a little too dependently against him, but he caught her shoulder, holding her steady as he dropped down to a knee, and then pulled her into his arms. He was silent for a few minutes, his mind racing to find some words more soothing than an empty ‘there there’. “Loki...” he started at last, hoping that he could muster the eloquence to put his thoughts into the right order. “Only genuine emotion could cause you pain. The proof of your character is in your distress,” he said carefully and was very proud of himself that the result seemed reasonably intelligible.

He could feel Loki’s breath slowing, from slightly panicked back to a more natural tempo, though she said nothing, perhaps worried her voice would still sound overly anxious. Her thin hands curled round his shoulders and she leaned her cheek against his collar and said nothing. Thor carded a hand slowly through her hair and waited patiently.

Some were perhaps not as patient though, and hoof beats drew up next to the chariot. An irritated, gravely voice called, “Why have you stopped? I thought you were in a hurry to return to Midgard!”

“S-sorry, just caught a bit of existentialism. I believe the prescribed treatment is bed-rest and plenty of fluids. Or perhaps that’s the flu. Either way, yes, quite right, must be moving on, mustn’t we,” Loki babbled, leaning back and pulling her arms into herself as Thor released her, reluctant and irritated, having to consciously tell himself not to glare at his father.

Odin, however, glared just as much as ever (it seemed the only expression his one eye was capable of) and his lips formed a frown. “Do you intend to return to Asgardia in that form?” he demanded.

“No, of course not, feel free to drop me in New York,” Loki replied flippantly as Thor bristled.

“Can you not see that Loki has expended too much magic already this day?” Thor snapped. “Or perhaps the shame of having an _argr*_ son is greater than your concern for his wellbeing?”

“Stay your tongue, boy. I suggested nothing of the sort,” Odin snarled.

“It matters not. Loki no longer resides in Asgardia, so you shall be spared the embarrassment,” Thor stood and found the reigns again, urging the goats back into motion.

“What foolishness is _this?_ Loki, why have you abandoned your home?” Odin demanded, riding along side the chariot.

“Not abandoned, I visit. Regularly. I simply find it more comfortable to sleep somewhere I’m less likely to wake up with my throat slit,” Loki sighed, leaning against Thor’s leg again.

“ _Nonsense!_ Thor, why have you _allowed_ him to--”

“Loki is fully capable of making his _own_ decisions,” Thor snapped, glaring ahead of the chariot. “And if living in Asgardia was so greatly aggrieving to him, then I believe it propitious that he take residence elsewhere.”

“He does not _belong_ elsewhere!” Odin cried. “Asgardia is--”

“We have seen how _miserable_ your _wisdom_ would make him!” Thor roared, finally turning his glare on his father. He could feel Loki shift, pulling her knees up to her chest and balling her hand around a strap on Thor’s boot, clinging nervously while remaining silent. “I will _not_ allow you to _chip away_ at him until he is _shattered_ as you did _before!_ ”

Odin’s eyes widened, his nostrils flared and his mouth drew into a furious grimace. But he did not reply; he instead rode ahead once more. Because he had no valid argument to refute his son’s accusation. Thor let out a slow breath, shaking with ebbing rage, and turned his attention back to their path through the stars.

“... The All-Mother let me keep my apartment in Manhattan. They threatened to recall me a few times. They weren’t serious... But he is...” Loki whispered. “He will make me return. To be spat on... I suppose I should tell Verity good-bye when we get back.”

“You will _not_ ,” Thor rumbled, his eyes narrowing. “If he begins throwing about demands, fetch me _immediately_. I’ll _not_ allow him to hold you against your will.”

Loki was still and silent for several minutes, and when she spoke, her voice was so small Thor almost missed it. “Thank you, Brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to spin something off of this. I have an idea for a start, but I'm not sure where I'd want to take it and I don't want to create an orphan, so I'm going to think a little more on whether I can think of a way to see it through or if it's a bunny without directional sense (poor geographically-impaired bunnies...)


	2. Moon Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “... I can’t help noticing that you’re still here. Go. To. Hel. Now,” Verity growled. “I’m not going to let up. This is bullshit and I’m sick of it and I’m convinced it’ll take all of five minutes to clear up.”
> 
> “And _I’m_ convinced you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
> 
> “And _I’m_ convinced you’re a _jack-ass!_ ”

A polite but firm knock at the door drew America’s attention away from her magazine. She sighed, setting down her coffee and pushing herself away from the kitchen table. As she pulled the door open, her face dropped into a scowl so deep it was almost painful. Standing in the hallway was Loki with a gift-basket of very expensive things, a poorly-hidden nervous look, and a stance that suggested he was ready to dodge at a moment’s notice.

“ _What?_ ” America demanded, glaring.

“I- I was just wondering--” Loki started in the direction of an irritatingly circuitous ramble, so America cut him off.

“ _What?_ ” she repeated, adding a little more venom to her tone.

“Can you take me to the moon?” Loki blurted out quickly.

America raised an eyebrow. “And exactly what does _that_ mean?”

“Er, literally. I literally need to go to the moon. The literal moon. Earth’s moon,” Loki clarified.

“... Explain. No side-tracking, no digressing, no babbling. Explain in twenty-five words or less,” America hissed.

“I- I’m a little foggy on the details, but my brother was part of that space-fight that happened the other day and I guess it ended up on the moon and apparently he’s been on the moon since it happened, and I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but from what I’ve been hearing something’s wrong, and I’m worried, and the moon is a bit out of my range, but I thought it was probably within yours,” Loki prattled out quickly.

“If you think that was twenty-five words or less, you suck at math,” America snorted, crossing her arms.

“I’m not very good at ‘concise’...” Loki winced.

“You realize there’s no air on the moon? It’s space,” America pointed out. “I’m not very good at ‘ _no air_ ’.”

“Actually, the part I think I need to get to is in the blue region, so there’s air on that part,” Loki offered.

America raised an eyebrow. She shoved a hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone, scrolling to the Ds and bringing it to her ear as it started ringing. It picked up halfway through the second ring. “Hi America, what’s up?”

“Is there a blue part of the moon that’s got air on it?” she asked.

“Yes. That- wait, hang on, let me check something...” David’s voice trailed off into faint sounds of rapid typing. “The oxygen was purportedly from an atmosphere-generator that was part of the Watcher’s tower, and since the tower got mostly destroyed this week... Okay, yeah, looks like the atmosphere-generator is still online, so yes, there’s breathable air. Why?”

“Loki brought me bribery-basket and says he wants to go to the moon because Thor’s being weird up there or something,” America explained.

The tongue-clicking sound David sometimes made when he was doing his rapid-research thing was followed by, “Yeah, recent Avengers chatter backs him up. Also, if he needs you to get _to_ the moon, then he probably needs you to get _back_. You could ditch him if he pisses you off.”

America’s mouth twisted to the side as she considered that thought, and then spread into a grin as she let out a low, ominous chuckle.

“That is _not_ a nice laugh...” Loki noted, looking worried.

“Can you give me some lat-longs for this blue moon?” America asked (she wasn’t about to follow Loki’s directions).

“Sure, I’ll text them,” David agreed.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll see ya.”

“No problem.”

America pulled her phone away to look at the screen, waiting for the text, as she held out her hand for the basket. Loki obediently handed it to her and America’s eyes wandered over the eclectic assortment of bribes. A bottle of champagne without a word of English on the label, a tablet computer, a collection of unfamiliar fruits, a gold watch, fancy cheeses, some books with the kind of complimentary cover art to suggest a series, expensive shampoo and conditioner, a 3DS, ‘extra-tough’ nail enamel, a small stuffed bear, gift certificates to expensive restaurants and spas.

America set the basket down just inside the door before stepping out into the hall and pulling it shut. Her phone pinged and she glanced at the coordinates, nodding to herself. “Okay, let’s go,” she said, stuffing the phone back into her pocket and powering up a punch.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” Loki said quietly, moving next to her. “And if you like the books, there’s an HBO series--”

“Shut it,” America snapped and punched a portal through the fabric of the universe. She raised an eyebrow and gestured for Loki to go through first.

The voices on the other side seemed to confirm that there was indeed air as Loki hopped through the star-shaped hole and she followed after him. “-- _beard!_ What is _that?_ ”

“That, it would seem, is Loki making his unnecessarily ostentatious entrance.”

“Your _mom_ is unnecessarily ostentatious,” Loki  rebutted, walking past a small collection of ren-fair-rejects who looked totally confused at the quip.

“Shut it, Chico. I ain’t got all day,” America snorted, ignoring the (must be) Asgardians and trailing after Loki, then paused, allowing him some space as he approached Thor, who was hunched down in the moon-dust, shoulders slumped and head dipped.

Loki left the Warriors Three to muddle in their bafflement at the fine art of ‘your mom’ jokes as he walked next to Thor and crouched. “Brother?” he called softly.

“Go home, Loki,” Thor whispered, and even at that volume there was a distinct hoarseness to his voice.

Loki frowned. “... Are you mad at me?”

“... No. No, it’s not to do with you... I just...” Thor shook his head slowly, glaring down at Mjölnir which, judging by the smeared footprints and fist-sized craters around it, was apparently being stubborn and the definite cause of Thor’s distress.

“Do you really wish me to leave, or are you just being unpleasant?” Loki asked quietly.

“... I wish you to leave,” Thor mumbled, hiding his expression behind the curtains of his hair. “I wish that _they_ would be gone as well, but they are not so skilled at listening.”

“Not overmuch, no,” Loki agreed and then reached into pockets that weren’t what one might be inclined to think of as ‘real’ or ‘there’, and drew forth two thermoses. “Hot coffee? Cold mead? Both?” he asked, shaking one, then the other.

Loki was rewarded by a small smile on what he could see of Thor’s lips through his hair. His hand reached out and took the coffee thermos. “Thank you, Loki.”

Loki tucked the mead back away and then reached out and caught Thor’s arm. “Thor,” he said softly, “you are the noblest, kindest, bravest, most selfless person- god or mortal- in this or any other world. If that isn’t good enough for Mjölnir, then to _hell_ with the damned thing.”

Thor was silent for several minutes; the small smile had left his lips. Loki reluctantly relinquished his arm. “... Go home, Loki,” Thor whispered again.

“All right,” Loki agreed, rising smoothly to his feet. “And when you are done with your little moon-party, I expect you to come and see me,” he ordered sternly. “I will be very cross with you if you don’t.”

“... Aye.”

Loki lingered for a few seconds more before walking back to where America was waiting with her arms crossed over her chest. “That’s it?” she asked.

“He doesn’t want an audience,” Loki replied with a shrug. “And _I_ for one see no reason not to _respect_ his wishes,” he glanced sideways at the Warriors Three, where Fandral was rolling his eyes and Volstag shot Loki back a small glare.

“Whatever,” America said with a shrug and punched another star-shaped hole into the air.

000

By Verity’s calculations, Loki owed her fifty-seven gourmet dinners. Loki had expressed doubt as to the validity of her algorithm-of-indebtedness, but Verity was confident in her equation. Tonight was braised pheasant and garlic-rosemary tossed mini-potatoes.

She was frowning as she picked at her food. She wasn’t very happy with the story. It wasn’t a very happy story. “... Have you told Thor?” she asked quietly.

“... I don’t know how to tell him...” Loki said, looking in the direction of his plate but his eyes weren’t focusing on it. “It’s... I think... No, I _know_ it happens in stages and... I’ve already passed the first stage...”

“... What does that mean?”

“... I’m like a snake. When I outgrow myself, I shed my skin. Although this should be regarded as pure metaphor, I mean, yes, I ‘grew up’ recently, but that was months after the _actual_ change... I...” Loki bit his lip and the fork in his hand bent out of shape as he gripped it too tightly.

“... What was the first stage?” Verity asked, because an algebra proof needs a starting point to work from.

“... The soul and emotions and whatnot were stored in a separate vessel from the memories and sorcery that were copied from the original Loki,” Loki whispered. “The child-Loki was... innocent, in his own way... The... codex of the original Loki’s memories and magic- the child personified it as sort of an imaginary friend... but it _wasn’t_ his friend.”

“Because if all the ‘soul’ was in the kid, then the ‘imaginary friend’ didn’t have a ‘heart’ or conscience and was basically a sociopath,” Verity summarized.

“Yes... Then the child grew enough that the innocence began to wear thin. He- he realized that he was in a trap. That he always had been. And with that realization, he reached the end of stage one,” Loki’s voice dropped low again, so that Verity was leaning forward a little to listen. “The trap was sprung and the child was forcibly reassimilated with the memories-and-magic part, obliterating the innocent-Loki and kicking off stage two.”

“... And that’s you?”

“Yes.”

“... So now you’re worried about what stage three is going to look like,” Verity summed up.

“... I have no way of knowing how many stages there will be, or where along the line I’m going to lose lucidity and spiral into madness,” Loki finally gave up on dinner and set his plate aside, pulling his legs up onto the couch and hugging them against him.

“And you’re scared to tell Thor that _that’s_ going to happen because then you have to tell him that you failed to mention that it already started months ago,” Verity said.

“That my first act in life was murdering an innocent- an innocent that happened to be the child he brought back from Paris and adored for two years? Yes, I _am_ rather dreading that conversation,” Loki muttered darkly.

“ _Whoa_ there, dial it _back_ a bit, emo-kid!” Verity protested. “You said stage two- you- are made of Kid-Loki and his imaginary friend run through a cuisinart. Now, that doesn’t sound too much like he’s _dead_ , murdered or otherwise,” Verity crossed her arms and gave Loki a stern glare. “You can stop it with the pity-party right now because your logic is _il_ logical. You _are_ him, you’ve just also got a lot of other shit crammed into you too.”

“... You’re oversimplifying,” Loki mumbled.

“No, _you’re_ over- _complicating_ ,” Verity said firmly. “You _know_ the lady who’s in charge of dead people, right? Go ask _her_ if the ‘innocent-Loki’ is dead or if he just got a lot less ‘innocent’ all of a sudden. I’ll bet you a hundred bucks she says the same thing I did!”

“... You’re wrong,” Loki whispered.

“So _prove_ me wrong,” Verity challenged, glaring. “Get going. Right now. Go to Hel. I’m sick of your _moping!_ ”

The corner of Loki’s lips quirked up just slightly. “Are you going to come with me?”

“ _Fuck_ no.” There were a few minutes of silence. “... I can’t help noticing that you’re still here. Go. To. Hel. Now,” Verity growled. “I’m not going to let up. This is bullshit and I’m sick of it and I’m convinced it’ll take all of five minutes to clear up.”

“And _I’m_ convinced you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“And _I’m_ convinced you’re a _jack-ass!_ ”

“Be that as it _may!_ ” Loki snapped. “You are _hardly_ an expert in such matters and it is _hardly_ your _place_ to--”

Verity cut him off with a sharp slap across the face. “I’m your _friend_ and that means it is _completely_ my _place!_ ” she screamed. There were a few seconds of stunned silence in which Loki just stared at her, eyes wide with astonishment, though there was no hint of anger or even the simmering irritation that had been there before the slap. “You know what I’m an expert in? _Math!_ And I am _telling_ you that _your_ math is _wrong!_ ”

Loki kept staring at her, and Verity really had trouble believing that he’d never been slapped before so she was a little curious what he had found so utterly shocking. Well, she’d already slapped a god and called him stupid and whiny this evening, might as well go for broke. “If you don’t get your ass off this couch and go to Hel _right now_ , I am going to _hit_ you again and this time I’ll use a _fist!_ ” she declared.

“Okay!” Loki hopped to his feet, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay!” he repeated and then uttered some syllables that sounded like German in a blender and disappeared.

Verity let out a slow breath through her lips and then hugged her arms around herself and giggled hysterically in a flood of adrenalized horror. He totally could have killed her. Horribly. He was a god (and by many people’s estimates an evil-god) and she had just slapped and yelled at him. Verity: Intimidator of Gods!

000

“Hello Garm. You’re looking well,” Loki said with a cheerful wave.

“And you are looking far older than you ought be by conventional means,” Garm noted, sniffing at him. “Last I saw you, scarcely a year ago, you were a boy not yet large enough to bare the title of ‘youth’.”

“I had a sudden growth spurt,” Loki offered.

“No doubt,” Garm scoffed. “I will let you through without quarrel, so spare me your games.”

“That is much appreciated and I’ll not harass you, lovely Garm,” Loki dipped his head respectfully and gave one of the giant wolf’s front legs a gentle pat as he strolled past. She made a noise between a growl and a sigh and flicked him with her tail.

When his feet had traveled just a few paces past Garm’s reach, swirling skirts and jangling armor flew at Loki. A moment later the apparition coalesced next to him, pacing him. “Loki. Your presence has not been seen here of late. One _might_ think you were avoiding Hel,” Brün noted, and it was refreshing to hear the slightest hint of humor in her much-improved voice.

“The living have been keeping me very busy of late. I’ve had little time at all to spare for the dead,” Loki replied, offering her a friendly smile.

“And this new face you wear, how did you come by it, little one?” the valkyrie asked, her tone casually curious, conversational, as she escorted him.

“By trickery, of course,” he chuckled. “I grew weary of being so nearly powerless, and so I found someone who could make the clock turn a bit faster for me, and then I found a bit of incentive for him to do so.”

“And I hope you did not burn him too badly for his troubles,” Brün said, tilting her helmeted head a little.

“Well, that’s the rub, isn’t it. Stand too close to me and getting burned is a foregone conclusion,” Loki sighed, a tiny hint of bitterness finding its way into his voice.

Brün was silent for a few moments and then lifted her hand and rested it on Loki’s shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. “You have your moments, Loki. Do not mope so, because you _do_ have your moments of brilliance.”

As they reached Hela’s palace, Modthryð and Göndul spotted them from their stations beside the doors. “Loki, you have grown,” Modthryð noted with a grin that could have been described as fond. “I did not think it had been so long since you were last here.”

“He has been mucking about with dangerous magics again,” Göndul clucked, shaking her head. “It rarely ends well, princeling.”

It took Loki a very disoriented moment to realize that this was what it felt like to be welcomed back. This was what it was like when someone recognized him and that recognition didn’t inspire anger. It was a sensation Loki found he rather liked, and so perhaps he should attempt to have as little interaction with the Dìsir as possible to avoid ruining it.

“You come to speak with our Lady Hela?” Brün asked, strolling up the stairs beside Loki.

“I have a question to which only she can provide an answer,” Loki said with a nod.

“Then I hope that she may give you an answer that is pleasing,” Brün said.

Loki paused, faltering on the step and tilting his head, frowning slightly at her. “...Really?”

Brün raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I- I apologize. I am unused to receiving well-wishes,” Loki mumbled, looking away.

“I see.” They were quiet and still for a few moments. “You may enter when you wish, Loki,” Brün noted, gesturing toward the large doors.

“I, um, thank you, Brün,” Loki stammered and finished climbing the steps, retreating to the quiet darkness of Hela’s antechamber. His footsteps echoed in the vast space as he moved through the forest of pillars toward the throne room.

“Loki, has your shyness finally abated?” Hela called as he entered, a smile playing on her dark lips.

“Everybody acts as though it is so very surprising that I was so long away,” Loki noted, scrunching his nose. “You know, _most_ people don’t actually _visit_ Hel; I am a bit unique in that. But being as most will avoid your halls as long as they can, why is it so strange to everyone that I avoided it a mere few months?” he asked, crossing his arms and offering a look of childish defiance.

Hela laughed throatily and Tyr shook his head, the barest hint of a grin tugging at one corner of his lips. Oh my, look at that. Was Loki’s brother becoming fond of him too? Death had surely made him senile. Or perhaps they were all having him on. That was a cruel but distinct possibility. “Come here, Loki. You have changed your face again; turn around, let me see you,” Hela called with a beckoning gesture.

Loki walked up to just below the dais and obediently turned a little 360, showing off his newfound height and fabulous wardrobe. “And who did you trick to gain this body, hm?” Hela asked, a knowing smile stretched upon her lips.

“A mutant youth with power beyond his own comprehension,” Loki replied. “But I felt somewhat bad about it, because he turned out to be very nice. I am glad there was no permanent harm done, but annoyed with myself for burning that bridge.”

“Oh _dear_ , Loki,” Hela murmured, bringing a hand to her mouth in feigned shock. “Oh _dear_ dear dear! Have you gone and developed a conscience?”

“I have migrated my residence to Midgard,” Loki replied with a shrug. “And I have found that I enjoy the company. I find the mortals... affable.”

“Unlike the Aesir,” Hela completed, pressing her lips together to suppress a laugh.

“ _Most_ unlike,” Loki agreed and watched as Tyr grimaced and rolled his eyes.

“And Asgard gave you leave to so migrate?” Hela asked, tilting her head.

“It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission,” Loki rocked oh his heels, giving a look of contrived innocence and was gratified by another rich laugh from Hela. “The All-Mother allowed me to remain abroad and Thor supports me. And I think I have done very _amiably_ at keeping out of trouble for the most part. I’ve _hardly_ endangered the multiverse at all. Not more than once or twice, _surely_.”

Hela laughed again and ended it with a soft hum before turning slightly to address her general. “Tyr, I believe your brother has come to ask me a question of a rather personal and private nature,” she said.

“Of course, my Lady,” Tyr bowed his head to her and descended the dais, casting Loki a nod as he strode past and out of the hall.

“... He doesn’t hate me...” Loki noted in a quiet, curious voice.

“Death has given him intuition that the living Aesir lack,” Hela explained in her deep, syrupy timbre. “He recognizes your nature to be autonomous from the creature he once called ‘brother’. He sees you for a child and he regards you as such, while those of Asgard still believe you only wear the skin of one.”

“... It is... odd... coming here. It is so very different here than anywhere else I go,” Loki murmured.

“There’s no place like Hel,” Hela said, voice dark and sweet and dangerous as her smile. Then her expression shifted, sobering and taking on an almost wistful quality. “... It has taken you quite some time to muster the courage for this visit, Loki... You fear the answer so greatly?”

“Truth be told, I had not mustered the courage even now,” Loki’s eyes flicked away, unable to quite look at Hela. “I am here because a young mortal threatened me violence if I did not come.”

Hela sputtered out a shocked laugh. “Th-threatened you _violence?_ ”

“She said that she would punch me in the face,” Loki said with a slow shrug and a sheepish smile.

Hela let out another bark of startled laughter. “And- and this mortal is of exceptional strength or possesses some deadly art with which to threaten a god?”

“No. She is a student of arithmetic at a school of higher learning. She is bookish and near-sighted and holds no powers of any offence. But she _does_ have the temerity to slap a god across the face and issue him orders,” Loki offered with another shrug. “ _That’s_ somewhat impressive.”

“Oh _indeed!_ I like her already!” Hela declared as she rose to her feet and stepped down the dais to stand directly in front of Loki. “A mortal girl who can _strike_ courage into a god. Indeed, tales should be written of _her_ deeds.” Hela put one hand on Loki’s shoulder and caught his chin with the other, pulling his face up and forcing him to meet her eyes. “Loki, what do you wish to ask me?”

Loki licked his lips nervously, his eyes darting away and then coming back to hers. “You- did you know that day why I asked that you send Leah away?” he whispered.

“Yes, Loki,” Hela said softly, nodding. “I am older than your father’s father. I have observed all that this world is, and I know more than you will ever dream of learning. I know that you came here that day fearing that your life was at an end.”

“Was it?” Loki breathed, his eyes dropping; Hela’s shoulder was as close to her eyes as his gaze dared go now. “Was it _my_ life? Or was it the life I took? Am I not that boy’s murderer?”

“Loki, if the boy had been murdered, his soul would be with me now, would it not?” Hela said quietly. Loki pursed his lips, took a shaky breath, and opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by Hela continuing. “As it happens, Loki, his soul is indeed now within my kingdom.”

Loki froze. He felt suddenly as though he was being crushed. He could not breathe, he could not move, he could not blink as emotions burned at the edges of his eyes. This was why he had avoided Hel for so long. This was the confirmation he had dreaded. This was the damnation that he had tried to hide himself from.

Hela’s cool hand caught his chin again and turned Loki’s face this way and that, looking closely at him. “It has been tarnished... muddied... corrupted... but it is unmistakably the same soul,” she whispered. “There is no higher authority on the matter of souls than me, Loki, and even when one has been so vitiated, I would still recognize it.”

Loki’s eyes snapped suddenly back to Hela’s and his mouth dropped open. “H-Hela?” he whimpered, blinking rapidly as tears began to fight for release.

“Stop torturing yourself, Loki,” Hela murmured, a sad cast to her features. “Must you be such a masochist?”

“I- I-” he started to shake and suddenly Hela’s arms were around him, pulling him to her and holding him firmly. Loki closed his eyes and leaned into her, pressing his lips shut, trying to hold a sob at bay even as he lost his battle against the tears.

“Shhhhhhh,” Hela breathed, holding onto him as Loki shook. “You are such a silly, unreasonable boy... You have been abusing yourself all this time simply because you refused to ask guidance. You must not be so willful, Loki.”

Loki swallowed hard to push the sob back and whispered, “Did- did she mean what she said? That she would hate me forever? Do you hate me still?”

“Words spoken in anger are rarely true, Loki,” Hela soothed. “I knew almost from the start that what you had done, you did to protect me. I was angry that I was never allowed the chance to do the same for you. It was unfair. But it was done out of love. You were the first to love me. The first even to notice I existed. I do not hate you, Loki. You are, and always have been, my BFF.”

The sob found its way back to Loki’s throat and he couldn’t stop its escape this time.

000

Verity glanced at the analogue clock that hung next to the doorway into Loki’s bedroom. It was a quarter past midnight now and she had a ten o-clock class tomorrow. She wondered if time ran differently in Hel. It was a different dimension or something, wasn’t it? Time might work on completely different rules. What if fifteen minutes there was like a week on Earth? She couldn’t very well sit around waiting for Loki to come back if he was going to be gone for a month.

She’d give him until twelve-thirty, Verity decided, then she really needed to go home. She looked back at her statistics text and let out a frustrated sigh. She’d reread the same paragraph four times, the words utterly failing to sink in to her mind, when there was the slight ‘woosh’ of air being displaced and Loki was standing in the middle of the living room again.

Verity dropped the text book into her lap and pushed herself up to sit a little straighter, looking him over. Loki’s face was pinkish, particularly around the eyes, and he looked exceptionally tired. “... Loki?” Verity called quietly.

He walked the three steps to the couch and turned to drop down heavily next to her. He was quiet for a few more minutes as Verity bit her lip and worry prickled at her. Then he lifted his hand and held it out to her. Verity blinked and focused on the object he was offering. A hundred-dollar bill.

A triumphant and relieved grin spread its way across Verity’s mouth and she took the money, temporarily stashing it inside her statistics book. “I _told_ you,” she murmured. “Now, I really have to get home. I’ve got class tomorrow.”

“... Hela says she likes you,” Loki noted quietly.

Verity frowned slightly, wondering whether the queen of the dead liking you was a good or bad thing. “Oh?”

“For slapping me. She appreciated that,” Loki explained.

“Oh. Well. Happy to oblige,” Verity let out a small snort of laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was responding to reviews, I had a wonderful idea for where I want to take this fic, so yes, the multi-chapter doings are going to happen now. All by the power of reviews; writer-reader dialogue really does make the difference.  
> More Young Avengers appearances are likely to occur in coming chapters as well as some Old (Mature? Experienced? Seasoned?) Avengers too, and plot points from the previous and current Thor comics.  
> I'm going with the assumption that the conversation with Verity here is happening after they get back from Latveria, and just hoping that that's going to be a cyclical and resolvable plot-arch.


	3. Blood on the Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh? Fine. Let us say, for the sake of rhetoric, that you _do_ care,” Loki hissed. “The simple fact remains that you love Asgardia _more_. You love every little _brick_ and _nail_ and _twig_ of your kingdom more than me. Of all of the things that you love, I am _last_.”

There was a knock at the door that strained the hinges and came just shy of splintering the wood. Loki smirked to herself and turned off the stove, hurrying through the living room and pulling the front door open with a smile that dropped off her face half a second later as she took in her brother’s appearance. His face was beyond grim. His hair was matted. He was wearing the kind of clothes the Avengers kept on hand for nudemergencies.

His hand was _gone_ and his arm was wrapped in gauze that blood had spotted through to the surface.

“ _Holy shit, Thor!_ ” Loki gasped.

The tiniest smile quirked at the edge of Thor’s mouth. “You have even begun to swear like a Midgardian,” he noted.

“ _What happened?!_ ” Loki demanded, grabbing her brother and dragging him bodily into the apartment. She took his arm and closed her eyes, focusing her power into healing magic.

“Loki, there is no time,” Thor said, putting the hand he still had on her shoulder.

“Shut up a minute!” Loki snapped and bit her lip, urging the last still-weeping fissures to clot.

“Loki, there is no _time_ ,” Thor insisted. “Pack the things you need _at once_. We must _go_.”

“Go?” Loki blinked, looking back up at Thor, allowing her attention to waver once she had stemmed the bleeding. “Go _where?_ What’s _happened?_ ”

“Asgardia. You will be safest where Father and Heimdall have watch of you,” Thor said brusquely.

“Asg- N-no! You said I didn’t _have_ to go back! You said--” Loki began to protest, backing away from Thor.

“ _Loki_ ,” Thor grabbed her shoulder again, his grip painful this time. “Malekith rides again and he has made allies with a clan of frost-giants,” Thor explained gravely, his eyes burning into Loki’s. “They are using some manner of blood-magics in an attempt to resurrect Laufey. _Your_ blood may well be of the highest value to them and I fear they will attempt to _part_ you from it. You must go where I know you will be _safe_ until this matter is resolved.”

Loki stared at him, her lip beginning to tremble as a chill ran up her spine. “... Laufey?” she repeated in a barely-audible whisper.

“Loki, _please_ , I _need_ you to be _safe_ ,” Thor pleaded. “ _Please_ , remain in Asgardia, only until I have seen to this.”

“O-okay,” she mumbled, nodding faintly. They couldn’t really bring Laufey back, could they? Why would they _want_ to? Why would _anyone_ want to? “Whatever you need of me, Brother.”

“Fetch what things you wish to bring. We must go at once,” Thor instructed again.

“Your arm--”

“My arm can _wait_ , Loki. _You_ must make haste, Malekith could come seeking you at any moment,” Thor maintained. “Get your things.”

“Yes Brother,” Loki nodded and walked slowly towards her bedroom, feeling numb. She waved a hand and a large duffel bag appeared in it, which she unzipped and tossed atop the bed. Thor stood in the doorway, glancing nervously around every few seconds as Loki made a few more gestures and a flurry of motion began, blurred streaks of color shooting through the air out of every drawer and shelf, as possessions raced their way into the duffel, storing themselves neatly as the bag never ran out of room. When finally the furor died down, Loki zipped the duffel closed and hoisted it over her shoulder.

“... All right,” Loki said, turning back toward Thor. “Shall... we go to the Bifrost sight in Broxton?” she asked, remembering that they would not be traveling by hammer today.

Thor glanced away, a faint sheen of guilt to his eyes. “Yes. I--”

“I can take us,” Loki said quickly, catching the wrist of Thor’s good arm and muttering her favorite group-transport spell.

000

Heimdall was inscrutable as ever when they passed him on the Bifrost, but when they arrived in Asgardia’s throne room, Odin’s face twitched and he tried to hide a terrible scowl behind a less-terrible one as he caught sight of Loki, allowing herself to be towed along in Thor’s wake. She was still very much a maiden and wearing a lace and ribbon-covered corset-shirt that made her sex (and some of the associated assets) quite impossible to miss. Freya gasped and ran forward, meeting them halfway across the floor, moments after they had come through the door.

“Thor, what has _happened?_ ” she demanded, reaching for his injured arm. “Your hand--”

“Oh _blast_ my hand! It is of the _least_ importance now!” Thor roared, yanking his arm away.

“No. No, I think it is _rather important_ , Brother,” Loki said sternly, dropping her satchel unceremoniously on the floor. “I have humored _you_ and now _you_ must humor _me_. Let me _close_ the wound.”

Thor growled and lowered his arm as Loki reached for it and tugged the bandages away, revealing the mess of congealed blood, severed flesh and abbreviated bones beneath. “Who has done this to you?” Freya demanded as Loki poised her hands around Thor’s arm, not quite touching him but close enough to have felt the warmth of her palms even if there weren’t magic flowing from them.

“Malekith...” Thor growled, watching the glow of Loki’s sorcery wrap around the stump as the pain faded and was replaced with the soft warmth of healing magic. “He has made allies within Jotenheim and they have recovered Laufey’s skull from the depths. They seek to complete the blood ritual to revive him.”

Freya sucked in a sharp breath and Odin swore. “Father, I fear they will seek--”

“Of _course_ they will seek Loki! Do you think me so _daft_ , boy?” Odin snapped. “He never should have been gadding about Midgard in the _first_ place! If _I_ had been here--”

“I have agreed to return to Asgardia _only_ so long as the threat remains and _only_ at Thor’s request. I am _not_ staying,” Loki cut him off, her eyes narrowing but staying focused on Thor’s arm.

“There is _always_ a threat!” Odin snarled, turning his monocular glare on Loki.

“Like there is always a _war?_ ” Loki retorted. “Really, you and Malekith are so very _alike_ , it is a _wonder_ you are not better _friends!_ ”

“ _Hold_ your tongue lest you _lose_ it, boy! I will _not_ be spoken to in--”

“ _Save_ your bickering for a more appropriate hour!” Freya cut in, stepping between her husband and Loki and laying a hand upon her shoulder. “All that is important now is--”

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Loki shrieked suddenly, shocking the room into silence as Freya yanked her hand away and avoided the startled, questioning eyes of both her husband and son. “... _Mother_ ,” Loki’s voice dipped back to a normal volume, but she spat the title with venom enough to kill a bear.

The stunned silence continued a few moments longer before Odin rounded on Freya. “What have you _done_ to him?” he hissed. “ _You_ are the reason he fled Asgardia, _aren’t_ you? _What have you done?_ ”

“I have done _nothing!_ ” Freya snarled back.

“Loki!” Odin demanded, turning his head towards Loki while his body still faced Freya.

“You heard her. She has done nothing,” Loki murmured, her eyes fixed on Thor’s arm as she smoothed flesh and skin across the severed limb like a potter smoothing the handle onto a cup.

“Then _why_ have you _shouted_ at your mother, Loki?” Odin growled, clearly disbelieving and rightly so; for Loki to direct such an outburst at the queen was entirely out of character. At Odin? Easily dismissed. At Thor? To be expected. At Freya? Unheard of.

“Everyone else was shouting. I wanted to be trendy,” Loki replied, the glow of her magic fading and she checked over the stump of Thor’s arm with her delicate fingers. “That takes care of the wound, but you shouldn’t go into battle like this.”

“Tyr managed well enough,” Thor retorted gruffly.

“Tyr was _used_ to it. You haven’t had time to get your bearings,” Loki protested, frowning sternly up at Thor.

“There is not time to be _had_ , Loki,” Thor said grimly, clapping his hand over Loki’s narrow shoulder and giving it a squeeze before turning and starting back towards the vestibule.

“Thor, no! You can’t just run back out into the fray like that! You need reinforcements! You need soldiers!” Loki protested, chasing after him.

“And he will _have_ them. I have called the League of Realms and they have answered,” Freya’s voice announced behind them.

“You have _what?_ ” Odin demanded. “Woman, what will it take before you realize that you are not--”

“ENOUGH!” Thor spun around and glared at his parents. “Will the two of you _squabble like children_ while all the realms _burn?!_ ” he roared. He pointed and accusing finger at Odin. “You _abdicated_ your throne and _abandoned_ your people. You disgraced your _kingdom_ and your _family_. You should make more thorough study of the disposition of the _citizens of Asgardia_ before _presuming_ that they have forgiven your trespasses. Under the All-Mother, Asgardia has known _peace_ and the people have more confidence in their queen than in an old man who comes and goes as he _pleases_ without regard to his subjects’ needs,” Thor felt a surge of gratification at the look on Odin’s face but did his utmost to suppress his smugness as he turned his finger on Freya. “And _you_ should try _talking_ to your husband once in a while. You are the _queen_ _of Asgard_. You have no business allowing yourself to be cowed by _anyone_.”

Without waiting for a response, Thor turned and started toward the door again, hearing Loki’s feet hesitate a moment before chasing after him again. “Brother! Wait!” Loki called, catching his elbow.

“Loki I will not _excuse myself_ from this battle,” Thor said firmly.

“No, Thor-- I-- Verity, she comes over Thursday evenings,” Loki started babbling very quickly, and Thor was assaulted by a confusing mix of emotions. He felt glad, he felt warmed by the sound of Loki’s fear. Because Loki was afraid _for_ someone. For a _friend_. Loki had a friend. “Not only would it be incredibly rude for me to just _not be there_ , but if Malekith observed her showing up at my door-- she might look like very _excellent_ hostage-material, Thor. I- I need to--”

“Loki. Loki,” Thor caught her cheek in his hand and hushed her gently. “Your friend will be protected. I swear it.”

Loki’s shoulders sagged slightly as she let out a breath, visibly relaxing under the reassurance. “Thank you, Brother,” she whispered.

“Do not leave Asgardia. Not for anything,” Thor instructed, giving her a hard stare, searching for hints of rebellion.

“I...” Loki faltered, looking torn, then defeated, then acquiescent. “I won’t,” she promised.

“Thank you,” Thor wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and pulled Loki into a hug. She stiffened momentarily before returning the embrace.

000

“I don’t think that you will be able to fit into that crawl-space you liked anymore,” Freya noted, walking along side Loki as she trudged down the hall, duffel slung over her shoulder.

“I don’t imagine so,” Loki agreed. “I suppose I shall actually have to sleep in my room then, if I am all out of better hiding places. But I suppose I have perhaps outgrown the very idea that any hiding place could _protect_ me. There is nowhere I can hide from _him_ , and I have you to thank for that.”

“Loki, I did not _choose_ your face,” Freya said quietly.

“You chose to _leash_ me to it,” Loki snapped. “You chose that I must _have_ a fate. You forced me to follow the _script_ , to play understudy to a role I never wanted in the _first place_.” She turned a glare on the queen. “Is it really so _terrifying_ to live one day at a time like _everyone else does?_ ”

“Loki, you do not understand--”

“ _I understand perfectly!_ ” Loki snarled. “You _sold_ me! You _sold_ me to buy Asgardia’s future! And why not? It isn’t such a great price, is it? I’m only _angry_ that I let myself believe for half a moment that you _actually cared_ _for me_.” Loki swallowed at a knot in her throat and tried to calm the threatening heat that danced behind her eyes. “You are a _queen_ first and a mother _second_. I was _stupid_ to think anything else.”

“... I _do_ care for you, Loki,” Freya said quietly.

“Oh? Fine. Let us say, for the sake of rhetoric, that you _do_ ,” Loki hissed. “The simple fact remains that you love Asgardia _more_. You love every little _brick_ and _nail_ and _twig_ of your kingdom more than me. Of all of the things that you love, I am _last_.” Loki stopped in front of the door to her old room, a room where she had rarely ever slept because she preferred to lay her head down where she was less easily found. “Now if you’ll _excuse_ me, Mother. I have _things_ to _do_ ,” she said, pushing the door open.

“What things, Loki?” Freya asked, keeping her feet planted in the hall, making no attempt to follow Loki into her room or waylay her.

“Thinks that don’t _concern_ you,” Loki snapped, pushing the door shut and putting a firm close on the conversation.

She dumped her bag carelessly on the floor and went over to the bed, throwing herself face down onto it and pulling at the slightly dusty covers, mounding them a little between her arms and creating a small nest into which she screamed until her throat was raw and her body was left trembling. She hated being in this room and in this building and in this city. She hated hiding here, cowering under Daddy’s cape, while Thor was out getting himself maimed even further. She hated that she’d _promised_ , and that Thor would make those puppy-dog eyes at her if she broke her promise, and that if anything happened to him, whether by her _breaking_ her promise or by her _keeping_ it, it would be _her_ fault. She screamed a bit more until the taste of lymph coated her tongue.

But Loki _did_ have things to do. Important things. So she sat up, scrubbing the damp away from her eyes, and pushed herself off the bed. In the drawers of her writing desk she found velum and a pen and she sat down to draft a letter.

000

Verity bought a latte to supplement the bagel-sandwich she’s shoved into her knapsack that morning and found a vacant couch to fall into while she lunched and read the new chapter in her physics text. She was digging around, searching for the illusive sandwich, when someone sat down next to her. “Verity Willis?”

Verity paused and glanced at the young man in gamer-glasses, trying to place him and drawing a blank. “Hi. Do we have a class together?” she asked.

“No. I’m not a student here,” (true) he answered. “I came to talk to you. We have a mutual acquaintance.” (true)

Verity frowned. That sounded... weird. “Mutual acquaintance?” she asked slowly.

“Someone you meet with regularly as I understand it,” (true) he said. “I’m not going to say the name of our mutual acquaintance right now because we shouldn’t be talking about this in the open.” (true) “My name is David Alleyne.” (true) “You might be in danger,” (true) “and I want to help you.” (true)

Verity stared at him silently for a while. “... Is our ‘mutual acquaintance’ in trouble?”

“No.” (false) He kept his eyes locked on Verity’s and she could tell he knew that she knew he was lying.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Verity asked carefully.

“I’d like to, but not here,” (true) David said. “If you come with me, we can explain the situation and have you back in time for your four o-clock statistics class.” (true) “You’ll be safe. We’re not trying to hurt or trick you.” (true)

“Who’s we?” Verity asked. “Is L- _he_ with you?” She saw David’s hand start to shoot up, about to cover her mouth if she hadn’t caught herself first. This was _that_ serious? What the _hell_ had Loki gotten into?

“No,” (true) David frowned slightly, he wasn’t looking over his shoulder or exhibiting any nervous _I’m-being-watched_ kind of behavior, but he was taking a lot of care with his words, which seemed to suggest that what he was worried about was magical-spying (based on the little bit of how-magic-works she’d picked up from talking to Loki). “If you come with me, we have a secure place where we can explain everything to you.” (true) “You can trust us. We’re the good guys.” (true)

“... Where are we going?” Verity asked, sliding her physics book back into her bag and pushing herself off the couch.

“A spaceship.” (true) _What_.

000

“Hi Verity, I’m Kate. Come on in, have a seat. We’re just gonna put ourselves in orbit real quick before we get started,” Kate said cheerfully, shaking the wide-eyed young woman’s hand as she stepped into the ship.

“This is a spaceship,” Verity said in a dazed voice, looking around as David herded her to a seat before disappearing into the cockpit. “You’re the ‘Young Avengers’.”

“Right on both counts,” Kate agreed. “Please hold questions relevant to the current situation until we’re out of Earth’s atmosphere, as magic can be kinda tetchy and we’re not sure who might be listening or how well. It’ll just take a minute.”

Verity sat down with her back ramrod straight and her knees together, hands folded neatly on top of them, and lips pressed into a thin, nervous line. After a second of unfocused staring, she glanced to the occupant of the seat next to her.

“Hi. I’m Teddy. Don’t worry, everything’s fine,” Teddy said, offering Verity his hand and a smile that would have been award-winning if they had awards for smiles.

“I’m in a spaceship,” Verity said, accepting his hand and shaking it in a very auto-pilot sort of way.

“It’s a very nice spaceship though. It’s perfectly safe,” Teddy assured her with a shrug and a lopsided grin.

“She’s a _jumpy_ one,” America noted, amusement coloring her voice, from where she was leaning against the wall, as usual a bit too antsy to sit down. “How can you be that jumpy and hang out with Chico?”

“I don’t usually _go_ on ‘adventures’,” Verity answered a little weakly. “I just... _hear_ about them.”

“Sounds _lame_.”

“Tommy, not _everybody’s_ addicted to constantly risking their life for any little excuse,” Kate smirked. “Anyway. Verity, that’s America, Tommy and Billy. Noh-varr’s piloting the ship, he and David will be back in a minute and we can get some explanations happening.”

Verity nodded slowly, eyes following Kate’s gestures. “... He talks about you guys... A lot,” she noted quietly. Billy and Teddy exchanged a glance at that, mirroring unsure, semi-grimaces, and America rolled her eyes and snorted. “He says you’re the first big fuck-up he can’t blame on somebody else... I mean, not _you_ you, but, um, what happened. What happened is the fuck-up. Not you as people or whatever.”

“Well, who knew gods could get schizophrenia anyway,” Kate sighed and shrugged. She heard the thrusters power down and glanced out the window. “Looks like we’re good,” she noted, getting out of her seat and moving to perch on the table in front of Verity. “So, there’s a _thing_ going on with Asgardia right now and Thor brought you to the attention of the Avengers as somebody who _might_ be targeted as a hostage to draw Loki out. Captain Rogers asked _us_ to bring you up to speed and keep an eye on you.”

Verity stared at her blankly for a moment, before glancing behind her as Noh-varr and David came out of the cockpit. “I... Oh. Um... Why do they want to draw Loki out and who are they?”

“A dark-elf sorcerer named Malekith, who’s been waging war against Asgard off and on for several centuries, has teamed up with a group of Laufey-loyalists from Jotenheim who are attempting to use some kind of blood-based magical ritual to resurrect King Laufey. As Laufey’s only surviving biological offspring, Loki is extremely likely to be targeted as someone to help them achieve their goal,” David explained in a quick, lecture-style voice. “And in this context, ‘help’ may very well be exsanguination.”

Verity paled slightly. “Oh,” she whispered. “... Where’s Loki now?”

“Thor made him go home to Asgardia,” Noh-varr said. “Whether he’ll _stay_ there is a bit less certain.”

“Loki’s not stupid. He’s _crazy_ , but he’s not _stupid_ ,” Teddy said. “He’s _probably_ not going to wander off just for the sake of being pissy.”

“But if he gets an _‘ingenious’ plan_...” Billy sighed.

“Well, yeah, then all bets are off the table, obviously,” Teddy agreed.

“ _Argh_ He is so going to get himself _completely_ _fucked_ , isn’t he?” Verity moaned, dropping her head into her hands.

“Track-record says: yes. definitely,” Tommy agreed cheerfully. “Dude, how long did it take to get those tattoos?”

“Tommy. Focus,” Billy grimaced.

“ _Look_ princess, _you_ are our thing right now. There’s a whole bunch of Avengers and Asgard-people working on the evil-elf situation. _Our_ job is to make sure no creepers come sniffing around _you_ ,” America said, walking over to stand right in front of Verity, leaning a hand on her hip. “That means you don’t give away that you even _know_ Chico. You don’t go near his _apartment_ , you don’t try to _call_ him, you don’t _talk_ about him or even say his _name_. At all. _Got_ it?”

“Names have a lot of power when it comes to magic,” Billy explained. “And bad-elf is _probably_ running a spell that’s basically like a word-search on Google. Anybody says Loki’s name, the spell flags it and gives him a ping.”

“Got it,” Verity nodded.

“Also stay away from the names of anybody else involved. Malekith, Laufey, Thor-- it’ll be best to pretty much stay away from anything vaguely Asgard-related until this is over,” David said.

“But it’s okay right now... because we’re not on Earth,” Verity guessed, glancing out the window.

“Exactly,” David agreed. “It’s highly unlikely, assuming Malekith _is_ running that type of spell, that it would extend to space. Which is why we took you out here to explain the situation.”

“So, keeping all that in mind, we’re going to be shadowing you for the duration of this _thing_ ,” Kate said carefully. “David’s going to be attending your classes at the college, keeping you in sight and monitoring things on the ground while you’re at school. You can ignore him or you can talk to him, whatever makes you more comfortable. The rest of us you’re not going to _see_ us as much, but we’ll be around and on-call to assist if anything weird goes down.”

Verity nodded slowly, chewing nervously on a knuckle.

“What sort of activities do you engage in outside of school, Verity Willis?” Noh-varr asked. “We will need to know in order to plan coverage accordingly. Do you live alone or with others? Do you go to many parties? Are there particular entertainment venues you frequent?”

Verity flushed a little. “I- No, I don’t really _do_ social-life...” she mumbled, looking embarrassed. “I live alone, I don’t really go anywhere except school and Starbucks and Loki’s place... I don’t- I’m not seeing anyone. I don’t really like... entertainment... um... Sometimes I go to guest-lecture series on campus or bars... Don’t really do clubs or parties...”

“You’re not _seeing_ anyone?” Tommy asked, looking puzzled. “I thought you were Loki’s girlfriend? I thought that’s what this whole _thing_ was about?”

“Tommy, shut up,” Kate shot him a glare.

“Loki friend-zoned me on, like, day one,” Verity snorted and rolled her eyes. “Besides, I think he’s transitioning, and I don’t have a _problem_ with that but it is _way_ too complicated for a ‘relationship’.”

Momentary puzzlement flashed across everybody’s faces followed by looks of ‘oh’ on about half. “... Seriously?” America asked, tilting her head.

“What?” Tommy asked, frowning and looking back and forth between Verity and his teammates.

“I’m unfamiliar with the terminology,” Noh-varr said, looking to Encyclopedia David.

“I think Verity means that Loki’s in the process of transitioning gender,” David explained without an expression on his face or in his voice.

Verity shrugged slightly. “Well, I mean, _physically_ I guessit’s really easy for him and takes almost no magic,” she mumbled, looking uncomfortable. “At first he did it, like, once or twice on a whim, now he’s spending more and more time in girl-mode every week. He’s almost up to half and half these days.”

“Well the old Loki did that too for a while, right?” Tommy seemed to _bizarrely_ be the most unsurprised by the news.

“No. The old Loki ‘borrowed’ Lady Sif’s body while his own was in the shop for repairs,” David corrected and ran a hand over his hair looking contemplative. “Although, the information I have on frost giants would seem to indicate that the species is androgynous, which is probably why it would take Loki ‘almost no magic’.”

“So he’s asexual and is just pretending to be a boy or girl?”

“That’s not what ‘asexual’ means, Tommy,” Billy sighed.

“Asexual refers to reproduction. It means that something can produce offspring all on its own without a second party,” David explained. “I’m fairly certain frost giants reproduce sexually, meaning that two adults are required, it’s just that _any_ two adults will do because they’re all basically the same.”

“Got it. But whether it’s ‘girl’ or ‘boy’, both are just pretend because he’s both or not either or whatever?” Tommy asked.

“Right,” David agreed.

“They both hit the same on the true-false spectrum,” Verity offered. “Which was really _weird_ to me the first time I saw him go ‘girl’ and there was just _no_ _difference_ at all in the ‘truth’ of it.”

Teddy let out a breath through his teeth and said, “Are you _really_ glad _Tommy_ asked?”

“Oh my God, I am _so_ glad Tommy asked so I didn’t have to,” Billy agreed and started laughing.

“It really isn’t that unusual,” David said. “There are thousands- maybe millions of sexually-reproducing species that are androgynous right on Earth. They’re just mostly invertebrates and plants.”

“And many species in the galaxy that have _more_ than two sexes,” Noh-varr pointed out.

“As fun as this is, we are totally going to make Verity miss her class if we keep gossiping about Loki’s gender-adventures,” Kate pointed out.

“Oh my God, what time is it?” Verity jumped, and scrambled for her phone.

“Three-fifteen,” America answered. “Do we have anything else that needs telling?”

“I think it’s question-answer period now,” Teddy said with a shrug. “Do you have any questions, Verity?”

Verity let out a heavy sigh that puffed her cheeks. “... I don’t know... This is weird...”

“When you hang out with magical-people, shit gets weird,” America noted unsympathetically.

“There are a _lot_ of people working on this, Verity. It’s gonna be okay,” Kate said, catching Verity’s hand and squeezing it. “Hopefully you won’t even need protecting, but if you do, we’re going to be there.”

“Thank you,” Verity said quietly, giving a littler sigh. “He said you were the best people he ever met... I can kinda see it.”

Kate bit her lip, feeling _intensely awkward_ , and when she glanced around at her team, she could tell that she wasn’t the only one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my _gosh_ , it is hard to write a scene with seven people simultaneously engaged in conversation! Have to keep running back and forth making sure I haven't left anybody catatonic in a corner... Anyway, yeah, I'm playing with what's going on in the current Thor comics this month, but I'm not going to attempt to follow them past this point, I've already got plot in mind and I'm not going to change it if the canon changes out from under me. And yes, LOTS OF CHARACTERS! There will likely be appearances from anyone who I think realistically (a term to be taken with a grain of salt) would be involved in a world-threatening crisis of this type and later appearances from other far-flung characters for other reasons of logical plot-happenings. Aside from Loki-comics, Thor-comics, Young Avengers and generalized-Avengers, there will also be references to New Mutants and two different incarnations of X-Factor.  
> Reviews are always loved.


	4. Disparate Perspectives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What makes you think I’d give you some new insight that the others lack?”
> 
> Jane shrugged slightly. “I don’t really think asking could hurt. And I kind of wonder whether anybody actually _has_ asked.”
> 
> Loki paused again and considered her. “... Your point is both excellent and correct. Maybe you _do_ deserve something for that,” she said quietly.

“He will come to his senses in time,” Freya said as she reset the spells sealing the door behind her, though anyone would have known it was a lie she did not herself believe.

“No, not that one. He’ll not go quietly into any box you build for him,” Odin replied, shaking his head. “This is _your_ folly, wife, and I wash my hands of it.”

“So to imply that you will do _nothing_ about it?”

Odin and Freya both started and turned to find the younger Loki, still a maiden although she’d donned Asgardian armor again, leaning against a pillar and fixing them with a glare. “Loki, how did you--” Freya started (because the girl had to have gotten through three security doors already to be standing there) and then seemed to remember whom she was addressing.

“You’ll recall I’m very talented at getting into places I shouldn’t be,” Loki scoffed, giving Freya a withering glance before turning her eyes to Odin, her brow pulling together. “You will do _nothing?_ ” she asked again, her eyes imploring though not holding any particular hope.

Odin found himself letting out a heavy sigh. “... What would you have me do, Loki?”

“ _Kill it!_ ” Loki snarled without a second’s hesitation and Odin winced at the abrupt and complete vehemence.

Odin stared at the girl silently for a long moment before replying. “That is not a life I have the right to take,” he said in a quiet but firm voice. “Although I wonder, if you find it so unobjectionable, why you have not committed that deed yourself.”

“I tried,” Loki said without breaking eye-contact for even the briefest instant. “He’s too much stronger than me. My attempt was so completely ineffective I did not even succeed in raising his ire. I was soundly ridiculed for my efforts.”

Odin raised an eyebrow, intrigued. It was one thing to rebel against fate, but to attempt to assassinate one’s own self, well that took a certain brand of courage that was a rare commodity even in a land of gallant warriors. “So you broke into your queen’s vault and assaulted a prisoner under her guard? Were you punished?” Odin asked curiously, walking over to loom above the girl.

“That that _creature_ is allowed to _draw breath_ is greater punishment than _any_ you could steep upon me!” Loki hissed, glaring defiantly up at him. “You will _let_ her do this to me? You will let her _leash_ me to _that thing?_ ”

Odin dropped a hand onto her shoulder and received a more venomous glare for it. “I have not the right to take his life, Loki,” he said gravely and then leaned down, dropping his voice and whispering next to the girl’s ear. “But if one who _could_ claim that right _were_ to... they would incur no wrath from Asgard.”

Loki was quiet for a few moments, her expression still hard with accusation, but her eyes had become calculating when Odin looked into them again. “You are both being unforgivably foolish,” she said after a length. “That cell won’t hold him.”

“Loki, this will not--”

“Let me rephrase, _Mother_ , since you seem to be having difficulty understanding,” Loki cut Freya off, glaring daggers at her. “His cell _does not_ hold him,” she asserted through gritted teeth. “He has slipped out once solely to _taunt_ me. Who knows how many more times he has come and gone without being noticed?”

Freya’s eyes widened slightly, alarm battling disbelief on her face. She shook her head. “I do not have time for games, Loki.”

“Oh no, silly me, of course, you’re right Mummy-Dear,” Loki gave a high, false laugh and took a step back, drawing the sword at her hip.

“ _Loki!_ ” Odin snapped warningly but rather than holding the sword in any threatening gesture, Loki had laid the blade in her own hand and then closed her fingers around it. Blood bloomed around the digits instantly.

“I _saw_ him. In _New York_. He teased me with hints about the opening of the tenth realm. _Mother_. Your. Cell. Does. Not. Hold. Him,” Loki said, glaring into Freya’s eyes as blood dripped down her wrist.

Freya stared back at her, face blank but there was fear hiding behind her eyes.

000

Jane had noticed the voice as she’d approached, but still found herself thrown all the same by the quite-definitely-a-girl attacking a swords practice dummy in a small half-garden courtyard near the east wall of the palace. The surreality came in the immediate familiarity, something unmistakably Loki in the girl’s face and even moreso in the way she moved; Jane hadn’t failed to recognize the trickster god for even a second, despite being a teenaged girl. Although the gender thing wasn’t the only aspect of the scene unfolding in the little courtyard which was raising the bar on the very concept of surreal-ness.

It was the headphones (not ear-buds or clip-ons, but the full, over-ear, music-nerd kind) contrasting Asgardian light armor that really did it. And the singing, of course. There was no shortage of song around Asgardia, particularly once a few rounds of mead had been consumed, but their songs tended to be epic ballads of vikingish valor and whatnot. One did not hear a lot of rock music in Asgardia.

Light on her feet as Loki was, it did look a bit like she was dancing, her singing punctuated by the _tok tok tok_ of a practice sword against the wooden dummy and the occasional huff. “*heph* _But they don’t know the least- if they listened to this song they’d find the_ *huhph* _message tucked beneath_ \- Do you _need_ something, _Doctor?_ ”

Jane started slightly. Loki’s attacks on the dummy didn’t slow and she continued singing, but Jane was fairly certain that the non sequitur hadn’t been a lyric (although she wouldn’t claim to be an expert on millennial music). “No. Not really,” Jane shook her head slowly, watching Loki.

“ _Go ahead and criticize us_ *huph* _it’s your tyranny that drives us adds the fire to our flames_ \- So just _rubber-necking_ then?” Was that a lyric? Jane was a little less sure but there had been a hint of vitriol that seemed to break from Loki’s singing-tone.

“It occurred to me that I may not have actually met you yet,” Jane said calmly and this time she got a visible reaction, although a small one. Loki paused for a second or two and glanced at Jane through a fall of hair, before resuming practice. “I hear Asgardians making catty little comments about you quite often, and there seems to be an extremely polarized debate going about exactly who _you_ are. But you obviously recognized me right away, which would seem to lend some strength to the majority viewpoint.”

“Why should I not recognize Midgard’s congresswoman?” Loki replied flippantly, pushing the headphones down around her neck and pulling a Starkphone out of a pocket, pressing a few buttons and then stowing it again. “After all, we only seem to have the one.”

“I see.”

“I doubt that,” Loki scoffed and returned to practice, although the fact that she was no longer plugged in seemed to be an invitation.

“So who _are_ you then?” Jane asked, tilting her head slightly. “The same old Loki with a new face? Or is the face not all that’s new?”

“I believe you said you’re familiar with the debates already,” Loki noted. “What makes you think I’d give you some new insight that the debaters lack?”

Jane shrugged slightly. “I don’t really think asking could hurt. And I kind of wonder whether anybody actually _has_ asked.”

Loki paused again and considered her. “... Your point is both excellent and correct. Maybe you _do_ deserve something for that,” she said quietly. She turned, finally looking at Jane fully, her head slightly tilted and a small frown on her lips. “Of course, had any of them asked me when I first arrived in their midst, I wouldn’t have had an answer to give, so perhaps it’s simply that your timing is more fortuitous,” she mused.

Jane stepped out of the doorway, finally entering the courtyard properly, and moved to settle herself on a stone bench. “It sounds like you’ve made a discovery then?” she raised a hairless brow.

“Discovery would tend to imply information that one seeks out. This was more of an ambush,” Loki shrugged, sheathing her sword. “To answer your question: no, I am not the Loki you remember. But I remember you.”

Jane folded her hands in her lap, her eyes staying on Loki’s, waiting to see who would look away first.

Loki put an index finger to her temple. “It was all forcibly downloaded, you see,” she explained quietly. “Extremely unpleasant. Kicking off a five month build-up to a very messy mental breakdown.”

“You had a breakdown?”

“Oh yes. My powers got out of my control and everything I’d been trying to cultivate was totally ruined. Months of careful planning in the toilet and I’m never going to get an opportunity like that again,” Loki sighed.

“What kind of opportunity?”

“One I shall not be discussing with you,” Loki said simply. There wasn’t venom in her voice, just fact.

“All right,” Jane said, nodding. “What exactly was “forcibly downloaded” into you? Memories? From the previous Loki?”

Loki studied her, face neutral, eyes scanning her up and down. “Yes,” she said after a minute of quiet. “But just sort of... factual memories. They’re impersonal. Like something I’ve read. I don’t remember his feelings. And... the things he did look just as mad and illogical to me as they do to you.”

Jane chewed on that for a moment. “It must be very difficult for you. Being treated as an extension of him. Even if you’re not being _officially_ blamed for his crimes, everyone treats you like a criminal, right?”

Loki pressed her lips together, not quite glaring at Jane, and then turned away. “I _am_ an extension of him,” she said in a quiet voice, spreading her feet and taking on a posture to begin her assault on the dummy again. “A continuation. You don’t know much about cyclical mythology do you? I am the understudy and my role is already defined.”

Jane frowned softly and chewed on her lips for a moment. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

Loki sighed, lowering her sword again and this time, after a moment, sheathing it. She turned back to Jane. “Imagine when you were a little girl,” she said quietly, looking Jane right in the eye. “Imagine you found out exactly what was in store for you. Imagine _knowing_ that one day your body was going to start killing itself; that the drugs you have to take to cling to life would make your hair fall out and make you feel so wretchedly sick you would wonder if just dying wouldn’t be so bad after all,” Loki stepped slowly closer to Jane and crouched in front of the bench, putting them on the same eye-level. “Imagine knowing all that when you were just a little, tiny girl and knowing that no matter _what_ you did, there was no way to stop it.”

Jane looked down at her hands because holding Loki’s gaze was getting a little too uncomfortable. “There might have been things I could have done. If I’d known I had a genetic predisposition to cancer, there may have been measures I could have taken to prevent it. Restrictive diets, avoiding certain environmental factors,” she said quietly. “With that kind of foreknowledge, I could have caught it sooner, before it metastasized.”

“Ah. Hope. That indomitable American spirit. That must be nice,” Loki sighed, settling back on her haunches. “Like I said, you clearly don’t understand cyclical mythology. ‘Free will’ is a luxury of humanity. The ability to grow, to shape your future, that is a truly wonderful gift. That’s because you’re _real_. What you’re failing to understand is that _this place_ -” Loki waved a hand in the air, indicating their surroundings, “it a _set_. A _stage_. Every person here, except for you, is a _character_ , and we are all just reading a script that was written a very _very_ long time ago.”

“... You think you’re not real?” Jane asked carefully, frowning.

“Oh now that’s the debate of our age, isn’t it?” Loki laughed. “Science, either on Earth or elsewhere in the galaxy, has yet to come up with a satisfactory explanation for mythoforms. We are observable and measurable and apparently generated by group-consciousness, but beyond that the mechanism is entirely unknown. So I’ll not get into _that_ philosophical discussion today,” Loki waved dismissively. “My _point_ , is moreso that while humans are controlled by the decisions they make and the decisions that are made _about_ them and the decisions that are made _around_ them, gods in a cycle-based mythology have _fate_. Nobody in Asgard is stronger than its fate. Odin himself can not rewrite the fate of anyone in Asgard. My _future_ is as immutable as your _past_.”

Jane shook her head. “But you’re _already_ different from him. You’ve never even _been_ to Jotenheim, have you? And you’ve been living on Earth, growing up in a _completely_ different kind of world than he did.”

“Which is all very nice,” Loki agreed. “But fate is like gravity. If you drop a penny from pocket level or from the top of the Chrysler Building, it still ends up on the ground.”

“... I can’t accept that,” Jane said, feeling foolish. Loki was right, she _didn’t_ know what she was talking about. She’d taken a single one-hundred-level course on comparative religions in college and that was as much expertise as she had. She knew the general shape of Norse mythology but only somewhat, and she knew next to nothing about its connection or interaction with the other pantheons of Earth.

“Neither can I,” Loki agreed, suddenly looking up as soft wing-beats sounded overhead. “I’ll fight it every step, of course, but that’s part of the problem.” She rose to her feet and turned, holding out her hand as a bird flew into it and half a second later turned into a rolled piece of parchment. “Loki is _supposed_ to rebel,” she explained, unrolling the parchment and skimming it with her eyes. Jane caught a glimpse of some kind of diagrams drawn on it before Loki rolled it closed again and turned back to Jane, giving her a polite nod. “This has been a surprisingly pleasant conversation, Doctor. I need to attend to this, but perhaps we will speak again while I’m stuck here.”

Loki held out her hand and Jane blinked at it stupidly for a moment, a little too surprised to immediately process the gesture, before reaching up and shaking the young god(dess)’s hand. “That would be nice,” she agreed, smiling as Loki raised an amused eyebrow at her, clearly not believing the statement. Jane watched her disappear back into the palace, considering the girl and wondering whether the whole conversation ought to be taken with a grain of salt.

Loki was _far_ more articulate than ninety-nine percent of teenagers, which could be easily enough accounted for by having a couple thousand years of extra memories in her head, or by simply being _Loki_. She could almost definitely be artful enough to craft a sympathetic tale, but the problem was that even if Loki’s unavoidable fate problem might be sympathetic, she has also all but stated that she was going to start committing the same level of monstrosities as the previous Loki. Confessing to crimes before they were even committed.

000

Loki whispered a short spell to the fresh roll of velum and held it up to the sky as it sprouted wings and feathers and lofted itself into the air in a clamor of black and white and carried her correspondence away. She leaned against a railing that overlooked a bit of the ruin garden and gazed after the letter/magpie for a while until the speck in the sky disappeared. Her quiet contemplation of the empty sky left in its wake was interrupted by hesitant footsteps crunching up behind her.

Loki turned to see the child timidly approaching her. He glanced down when she looked at him, shuffling forward with marked anxiety. There were a few more children peaking around the corner of a building a few yards on, apparently this boy had drawn the short straw.

 “... You’re a girl,” the boy, whom Loki recognized as one that had broken her arm on two separate occasions, noted in a nervous, wavering voice and chewed on his lip, finally looking up at Loki with wide eyes and more than a suggestion of fear in them.

Loki pulled at the collar of her tunic and looked down inside with a startled gasp. “Oh my goodness! How did _that_ happen?” The boy gave a slightly alarmed look, because irony was simply lost on him. Loki snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m _aware_. Did you _need_ something or are you just pestering me?”

“... You got bigger,” the boy mumbled, taking an anxious step backward.

“You are _very_ good at stating the obvious, you know that? Yes, I’m bigger. And stronger too,” Loki agreed in a disinterested tone. “Physically of course, but mostly my magic. I’ve become quite formidable in my time abroad.” The boy’s eyes got a little wider and he took another step back. Loki glanced over at him. “You seem nervous. Did I have reason to dislike you? I can’t seem to recall. Actually, I don’t seem to recall your name or even your face,” Loki noted, giving him a look of deep boredom.

“W-well I- I-”

“Don’t feel obliged to remind me because I simply can’t even pretend to care. You’re of no consequence to me. Why should you be? You’re _nothing_ ,” Loki gave an exaggerated shrug. “You are but a tiny speck of _nothing_ in a great big universe and that is all you will ever be. In time, not even your own mother will remember your name.”

Several expressions crossed the child’s face in rapid succession, and then he was gone, running away to hide, or seek validation, or perhaps check and make sure that his mother still recognized him. Loki smiled to herself and hummed. “I seem to recall a rhyme about sticks and stones...”

000

 “Do you suppose he’ll stay _put_ though?” Lady Sif wondered, running a sharpening stone down the length of her sword in a slow, steady motion. “No one has more talent for escaping Heimdall’s eyes.”

“But why _would_ he?” Honeyshot asked, frowning. “If he strays, Malekith will most certainly slit his throat. Is fear of such a fate not enough to keep a child cowed?”

“Maybe, but he’s not a ‘ _child_ ’ anymore,” Fandral sighed, rolling his eyes. “He wandered off for a few months and when he came back he was nearly grown. And of _course_ he’s given no explanation.”

“He was following the Young Avengers around when they all got caught up in some very bad magic thing,” Jessica offered swinging her legs as she perched on a railing behind Rogue. “I’d put my money on him turning that debacle to his favor.”

“Likely so, Lady Drew,” Volstag agreed, nodding approvingly. “The boy’s deviousness grows even faster than _he_ does.”

“Oh yes, by _all_ means, let’s condemn a _kid_ based on pure speculation,” Dani sneered, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. “Don’t you _think_ if he’d screwed over the Young Avengers, maybe they would have _said_ something about it? The worst I’ve heard is Kid-Hawkeye calling him ‘ _such a shameless hipster_ ’ on Twitter.”

“What is a ‘hipster’?” Volstag asked, glancing at Jessica.

“An annoying brat.”

“Ah.”

“Ah gotta agree with Dani on this one,” Rogue hugged a knee to her and rested her chin on it. “Kids ain’t gonna be none too quite when they’re mad. Ah mean, yeah, maybe Loki got himself leveled-up while he was chasin’ after the big-kids, but if he’da givin’ ‘em much trouble, Ah think we would’ve heard about it by now.”

“Forgive me, ladies, I do not mean to doubt your wisdom, but I think perhaps that you do not know Loki as well as we,” Fandral said sweetly, giving Rogue and Dani a charming smile.

“And how well is _that_ exactly?” Valkyrie cut in after having been entirely quiet up to that moment. “You may have known _one_ Loki, but how much time have any of you even spent with the _child?_ ” she demanded. “Dani _has_ had some association with _this_ Loki and aside from that, she and Anna-Marie were both teachers and advisors of the X-Men’s schools. They know ‘at-risk youth’ better than most, and I would defer to _their_ expertise in matters of troublesome adolescents.”

The other Asgardians all stared at Valkyrie, looking startled and bemused. Lady Sif tilted her head slightly to the side, “... When did you begin advocating on Loki’s behalf, Valkyrie?” she asked.

“I do not advocate for Loki,” Valkyrie corrected, shaking her head. “I question Fandral’s _arrogance_ in asserting himself as an expert on a boy he’s rarely even _spoken_ to.”

“My lady, I really don’t think--” Fandral started.

“No, I can see that you _don’t_ ,” Valkyrie snapped, crossing her arms and frowning. “ _Thinking_ is a past-time that has become quite unpopular in Asgardia, isn’t it? Our times have been strange these recent years, and Asgardia seems to become smaller as the world around it becomes larger. Strange times indeed, and I wonder that I might not sooner trust words from Loki’s lips than the All Mother’s for all the deceit that the queen has--

“WHOA! _Okay_ there, Val, let’s back it up a little and _not_ piss-off all your big, strong god friends right now, _okay?_ ” Annabelle took over their shared body, cutting Valkyrie off and standing there where Valkyrie had been a moment earlier, giving the shocked Asgardian’s a terrified look before shuffling stiffly backwards. “W-we’re just gonna... go over _there_ now,” she said, pointing vaguely before bolting over to where another clutch of Avengers was gathered around some screens, following the data scrolling across them and searching for some clue as to where the next attack would come.

“... Okay, what was _that?_ ” Jessica asked, turning a questioning look at Dani.

“She’s mad at the All Mother,” Dani sighed.

“Whatever for?” Lady Sif asked, frowning as she watched Annabelle disappear again and Valkyrie start up an intense conversation with Thor.

“None of my business,” Dani said firmly and then pushed herself out of her chair. “I’m sick of gossip. We’re not fighting Loki, we’re fighting _Malekith_. This whole thing right here is off-topic and _rude_. What exactly has _this_ Loki _done_ to any of you? Because so far, he has _damn_ well impressed the _hell_ out of _me_.”

“Dani?” Rogue murmured, her brow pulling together as she looked up at her fellow X-Man.

“And y’know- a kid is going to live up or _down_ to the expectations that people _set_ for him. If you _tell_ him he’s a bad kid, then _guess_ what? He’s going to _be_ a bad kid! Children are a product of their _environment_ and it looks from here like _running away_ was the _best_ move Loki could have made,” Dani announced as she turned her back and started away.

“ _Dani!_ ” Rogue jumped up and chased after her, catching her a few feet away. “Sugah, you were gettin’ a little intense there at the end,” Rogue said quietly, putting a hand on Dani’s shoulder and getting in front of her, studying the Hel Valkyrie’s face carefully. “Were you still talkin’ about Loki?”

Dani glanced away. “I... They’re just so _toxic_ , it was pissing me off...”

“... Sug... how’s Josh doin’?” Rogue squeezed her shoulder.

Dani closed her eyes and shook her head. “... I don’t know if he’s getting better or worse...” she whispered.

Rogue hugged her, and a few moments later, Dani hugged back.

000

“Tell me Thor, has Asgard always been a poisonous, rotting carcass and I’ve only just _noticed_ , or is that _new?_ ” Valkyrie demanded hotly, striding up beside the thunder god and crossing her arms. The handful of Avengers who had been discussing tactics before the scrolling data-stream on the screens a moment earlier all went silent and stared between her and Thor, holding a collective, horrified breath.

Thor turned slightly to consider her for a moment before responding. “I am unsure. I didn’t realize you’d noticed,” he said calmly. Stark exchanged a baffled look with Falcon and Steven, Hercules only sighed and shook his head as Amadeus, eyes still focused on the screens, just snorted.

“It’s not Asgard that’s changed,” Hercules said, for once bothering to keep his voice fairly quiet. “It’s the two of you. And the longer you spend fighting alongside mortals, the more you’ll have the heart of one.”

Thor took a moment to process the statement, and then pushed it away deciding to give it more thorough consideration later. He smiled at the Greek. “Keep saying things like that and one might begin to mistake you for wise,” he teased.

“Ha! There’s little fear of that, I think!” Hercules laughed.

“Okay, so are we mad at Asgard for some reason that you’d all like to share with the class?” Stark asked, frowning.

“No, the veneer’s just wearing thin,” Amadeus said, highlighting a strand of data with his stylus before letting it continue scrolling past. “Gods aren’t supposed to notice how trite and petty their kingdoms or realms or whatever are. Leads to a little mini identity-crisis sometimes when they realize that they basically live in never-ending high school.”

“Wow. That sounds like my worst nightmare,” Falcon noted, cringing.

“The golden city is merely gilded it seems,” Valkyrie sighed, shaking her head. “I think perhaps Annabelle’s eyes let me see it more clearly. I no longer have the patience for Aesir _cattiness_.”

“They are gossiping, I suppose,” Thor let out a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a snort.

“About your brother, of course,” Valkyrie agreed, glancing over her shoulder. “Oh and there goes Moonstar. Their vitriol has chased her off. I think she may have taken a shine to Loki, the Dìsir are her sisters after all. How do you stand it, Thor?”

Thor shook his head slowly. “I ignore it,” he said with a slight shrug. “They will find something new to cluck about next week.”

“Assuming we’re all still alive next week,” Stark noted as he and Amadeus both reached to highlight the same strand of numbers and letters scrolling across the screen. Thor could make no sense of any of it, but the geniuses seemed to read it as easily as plain English. Whatever they were finding in it was beyond the Allspeak’s ability to translate; it was more akin to magic than speech.

Thor wondered, as he watched the two start muttering a rapid stream of what may as well have been incoherent babble at each other, whether Loki would be able to see what they were seeing in the tumult of data. He had always had a talent for cryptic language and his newfound skill for computers had been enough to challenge Stark’s firewall at the tower. Did the languages of science come to Loki as easily as those of magic? Midgard really did suit him much better than Asgard ever had.

000

“I’ve been given permission to kill you, if I can find a good way to do it,” Loki announced in a casual tone as she strolled into the cell she shouldn’t have been able to get into and _he_ shouldn’t have been able to get out of.

“Yes, I heard. That should be _very_ entertaining,” _he_ chuckled, grinning vilely at her as _he_ lounged in his stupid (was it supposed to be ironic?) throne.

“Oh yes, I imagine so,” Loki agreed. “I mean, obviously _you_ can’t permanently damage me, and the All Father has guaranteed me I won’t be punished for permanently damaging _you_ , so what have I to lose? I’ve no compunctions or reservations about killing or causing you excruciating pain, so I can really pull out all the stops and cut loose.”

“You fancy indulging in your dark side, hm?” _he_ gave her a deep smirk, pushing himself to his feet and slinking toward her. “Wouldn’t it be cathartic? Rending my flesh and making me scream? Taking out your fury and frustration against the world that has condemned you upon the most obvious target?” _he_ caught her chin and Loki jerked away from his fingers. “We’ve always been such an excellent scapegoat for all the sorrows of the realm. When in doubt- blame Loki, right?”

“Maybe I’m simply sick of your face,” Loki hissed.

“No _doubt_ , little one,” _he_ agreed, snickering. “Is _that_ why you’ve gone extreme make-over? Do you really think it will _help?_ Or are you just waiting for Thor to tell you you’re a pretty pretty princess?”

“I’ve decided I prefer lace to leather,” Loki sneered. “... I suppose you’d consider it a _victory_ , were I to get sadistic about dispatching you. So I won’t. I don’t care about _hurting_ you, I just want to obliterate you. If there’s a way to do it painlessly, I will choose that. Because _I_ am not a sadist.”

 _He_ threw his head back and cackled. “Oh I _do_ so enjoy our talks, precious. You say the _cutest_ little things,” _he_ said gleefully. “And I hope you’ll join me for the show tomorrow.”

Loki narrowed her eyes. “The show?”

“Oh yes. It’s to be one of the great benchmarks of your life. A turning point, if you will. And I would so very much like to see your face when it happens,” _he_ explained cryptically.

Loki stared at him silently for a minute, biting the inside of her lip. “And when shall I arrive?” she whispered.

“You’re still on Eastern time, right?” _he_ mused, tapping his chin. “Let’s make it four o-clock?”

“... All right. I shall see you then,” Loki agreed, clenching her fists at her sides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That first scene is branching off the opening of Agent issue 7 but for the purposes of this fic, Axis is never going to happen. Because holy _crap_ , Marvel, how many _epic crossovers_ are we going to have this year? Continuity can't even keep itself straight there are so many crossovers! The timelines are battling each other for supremacy! The casualties are mounting!
> 
> Let's see, cameo role-call... Honeyshot (did Jason Aaron _intend_ for his name to sound really dirty or was that a needed-an-editor accident?) is the light-elf marksman from Thor: God of Thunder comics last spring. Jessica Drew is Spider Woman, core Avenger these days. Rogue is currently an Avenger, is everybody up to date on that (and that her name is Anna-Marie)? Valkyrie, Annabelle and Dani are Defenders/Valkyrior. The back-story being referenced with Dani and Loki is from a New Mutants Volume 4 crossover with JiM and the Dìsir are Dani's 'sisters' because Dani is Hela's Valkyrie. The 'Josh' Rogue asks about is Dani's ward Josh Foley (omega-level bio-manipulator) and David Alleyne's former roommate/best friend. He fell into a plot-hole four years ago and nobody's heard from him since. Last anybody mentioned, he was going on sabbatical because he was all PTSDed from being a super-secret child-soldier. A+ TEACHERING, X-MEN!  
>  Back on topic- 'Wilson' is referring to Sam Wilson (Falcon/New Captain America), _not_ Wade Wilson (Deadpool) - _he_ doesn't get invited to very many Avengers parties-. Amadeus Cho, formerly Hercules' sidekick, currently seems to be sort of working for, or was bought-up by, Tony Stark (which I'd really like a little more explanation on because last time they were in the same room, Cho was at Tony's throat) and my assumption for the purposes of this fic is that he's back on the Avengers roster; he disappeared a couple years ago and apparently he's been at college, because he's just reemerged with a PhD after less than two in-comics-time years away (eight years of school in 18 monthsish? Whatevs, he's Amadeus muthafuckin' Cho, _bitches!_ )
> 
> Oh! And I made a word! I decided for the purposes of this fic and for my Marvel 616 fics in general, I needed a _Science!_ word for gods and associated mythological personages. I decided on 'mythoform', which in my head-canon is going to be how atheist scientist types like to refer to myth-people and is probably considered the 'politically correct' term in mixed company. Originally I'd wanted to have David be the first person to use the word in the fic, but then I was like 'ugh, it makes sense for Loki to use it here. damn.'


	5. The Gauntlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “... You did not trust me to protect you?” Odin asked, eyeing her nest.
> 
> “You refuse to protect me from that which threatens me _most_ ,” Loki reasoned with a shrug. “But I suppose batting away the trifles is your duty as a father.”
> 
> “Loki...” Odin sighed, kneeling down next to Loki’s nest. “I will not slay any part of you,” he said quietly. “And only _you_ can prove to me that the creature in your mother’s vault is no part of you.”

“Well. I guess we won’t have to worry about Roxxon for a few weeks,” Coulson noted pragmatically, watching Avengers straggling back in from the now-abandoned ice tower that had wrapped itself around Roxxon Island as S.H.I.E.L.D. forensics teams moved in on it.

“I hope your guys can find enough skeletons in that closet to shut them down permanently,” Tony sighed, shaking his head. “There were hundreds of people in there. All dead because Agger was so determined to keep his dirty secrets secret that he let Malekith find him before us.”

“I’d bet my salary for the next ten years we don’t find Agger’s body in there,” Coulson said, nodding to the bits of Roxxon Island still visible through the ice.

“If only,” Tony rolled his eyes. “Everybody on his payroll dies, Agger comes out without a scratch. The guy’s a snake.”

“Do we have any clues for where this crazy bastard is going to hit next?” Maria demanded, striding out onto the tarmac.

Tony shook his head. “I’ve got an analysis on his residual energy signature; give me a half hour and I’ll be able to detect him teleporting anywhere on Earth, but I can’t track him in Svartalfheim, and following him to his home turf would probably be a _very_ bad idea. If you want a list of his possible targets, Thor’s going to know better than me.”

Maria groaned, scuffing her boot on the tarmac and glaring at nothing. “All right, get to work on your teleport-detector. And grab one of the smart-kids to help you- they’ve been arguing for the last twenty minutes and it is seriously _pissing me off_.”

Tony snorted. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said, heading back for the war room as Maria went to intercept Thor.

War rooms weren’t generally quiet places, but they also weren’t generally dominated by the sound of raised adolescent voices nerd-arguing with each other. _“I’m telling you the efficiency would be increased by a factor of--”_

“Crazy-elf chaos-magic knocks all that clear off the table! We _have_ to have a wider spectrum in order to--”

_“But if you just recalibrated it to factor in--”_

“That doesn’t matter when _chaos-magic’s_ involved! The entropic energy would _completely_ \--”

_“The entropic energy is compensated for by the--”_

Tony brought his fingers to his lips and let out a piercing whistle that made Cho cover his ears and Mancha jerk sharply. “Hey, Mancha. _Doctor Cho_ doesn’t play well with others. Come help me turn the data I just grabbed into something we can use to set up a detection net.”

 _“What data?”_ Mancha asked, turning away from the screen he’d been arguing over with Cho and moving toward Tony.

“Energy signature for Malekith’s sorcery,” Tony said, leading him toward a workstation that was currently vacant. “Where’s grandpa? Isn’t he supposed to be in charge of daycare?”

_“Look, if you don’t want my help then--”_

“No no, you can crunch the numbers faster than me. But seriously, where’s Hank? I leave for a half hour and he’s wandered off,” Tony frowned, looking around the war room, which had started to repopulate with Avengers. “He isn’t off his meds and hiding in a video game again, is he?”

Mancha crossed his arms and cast Tony a glare. _“Doctor Banner asked for his help on something,”_ he said in clipped tones. _“What do you want, Mister Stark?”_

Tony’s charms apparently worked on robot kids about as well as they worked on non-robot kids. Why did all the kid-Avenger geniuses hate him? And why did they all like _Pym?_ “All right, I recorded a spectrum analysis from the icicle out there and I need help isolating Malekith’s energy signature. You want me to blue-tooth it to you?”

_“Sure.”_

Tony started sending the raw data to Mancha and the workstation as he went into his cloud drive to dig up a few of the macros he’d written for analyzing magic.

000

Freya watched from a balcony as Loki trotted out into the garden below and sent off another letter. The queen frowned, watching her foundling child stand for a few minutes, looking after the bird-shaped epistle, before disappearing back indoors.

“What is he doing?” Odin asked, coming up behind her.

“I’m not sure. Loki has been sending and receiving correspondence since arriving. There have been perhaps half a dozen returns since then,” Freya said quietly, shaking her head. “If she were communicating with someone on Midgard, she would use her telephonic toy. Who would she be communing with in this manner?”

Odin scowled. “ _‘She’_? Have you been encouraging this deviance?”

“I neither encourage nor discourage. _You_ are the one who encourages rebellion in Loki by challenging his right to choose. Loki is a frost child by birth and had he been raised in Jotenheim, he would have chosen his own gender when he was of age,” Freya turned and gave Odin a hard look. “ _You_ chose for Loki, so that he could be raised like an Aesir child. You are not angry with Loki. You are angry that you might have chosen _incorrectly_ and Loki confronts you by pointing out your error and amending it.”

An expression of affront melted away and weary sadness overtook the All Father’s countenance as he faced his wife. “... I have made too many mistakes,” he said quietly. “Only my mistakes seem to remain now.”

“Then do not make _this_ mistake,” Freya said, laying a gentle hand on Odin’s arm. “Loki is seeking ways to rebel against his fate. This may pass quickly enough and I dread to see what he’ll try next.”

Odin shook his head slowly. “You are confident it will pass because of your ‘oracle’, but I have less faith in the accuracy of that one’s prophecies,” he rumbled, looking out into the empty garden again. “I shall bury my pride. Loki’s choices may be his own.”

000

“Why didn’t you tell the grown-up Avengers about his epic fuck-up?” Verity asked as she hovered over her latte, enjoying the smell while it was still too hot to drink.

David shrugged, stirring his own drink with a little wooden stir-stick. “They would have seen it as the other shoe dropping,” he said slowly, staring at the foam rotating around the cup. “He’s not going to get three strikes. He messes up once and it’s all over for him because they all look at him and see the guy that they’ve been fighting since Avengers day-one. And he isn’t. I mean, he says he’s ‘just like him’, but he’s different enough that when you spend time around him it’s obvious he’s really _not_ the old one.”

Verity nodded slowly. “So... you protected him,” she smirked slightly, “from the Avengers.”

“We just didn’t _damn_ him,” David corrected, shaking his head very slightly. “We talked about it as a group, the day after everything went down, and we all kind of recognized that, yeah, he screwed us, but he’s been terrorist watch-listed since the day he was ‘born’ and he’s never really been given a _first_ chance much less a second one, and that’s... really messed up.”

“Hm,” Verity took a sip of her latte and leaned an elbow on the table. It was a little awkward to talk about somebody without ever saying their name, but she’d been getting practice throughout the day and since it was always obvious who ‘he’ was, there hadn’t been any confusion yet. “Did you know Ironman tried to kill him on his ‘birthday’?” she asked.

“Yeah. Pretty much any time you’re in a group of capes, sooner or later the topic ‘why Tony Stark is an ass-hole’ is going to turn into a multi-hour conversation,” David rolled his eyes and smirked.

Verity laughed and took another sip of coffee. “Y’know, most of the time when he’s being sincere, he makes it sound like he’s joking,” she mused, tilting her cup and watching the way the milk clung to the ceramic.

“Yeah, I noticed that,” David agreed.

“You can tell when he’s telling the truth?” Verity asked, looking up at her companion.

“Sometimes,” David nodded, leaning back in his chair. “He’s not as good at lying as he thinks he is. His vocal modulation is pretty good, but his micro-expressions need a lot of work. He doesn’t display the _normal_ signs of deception so much, but he’s really bad at keeping his anxiety and guilt in check.”

“Hm,” Verity nodded, thinking that over. She’d never studied people’s expressions too carefully because she’d never needed to, but she had heard that FBI facial experts were more accurate than any technology-based lie-detectors.

“... And he’s not quite there at hiding all the reflexive abuse-symptoms he’s collected,” David noted in a slightly quieter voice. “Have you noticed that he always stands about two inches out of reach?”

Verity felt cold suddenly, she frowned at her coffee, trying to picture the distance between them when she was talking to Loki. “... I hadn’t,” she said softly.

“He might not do it as much anymore,” David said with a lopsided shrug. “It’s possible ‘growing up’ has made him feel more secure. Gods don’t usually tend to get super-human strength until their middle teens (or the equivalent thereof). I expect he’s physically strong enough to knock down any baseline human and a good percentage of meta-humans at this point, though stylistically he probably won’t show it. The old one always liked the look of a shiny weapon in his hand, so he didn’t do a whole lot of punching.”

“Ah,” Verity nodded, only half listening as she continued to wonder about ‘abuse-symptoms’. The ease with which Loki had been bullied when she’d slapped him a few days ago suddenly seemed a lot less funny.

000

When a day was a month long, bedtime was a little bit arbitrary. Asgardia still held to a twenty-four hour day and ignored the position of the sun for the most part as it ducklinged along after the Earth’s moon, clinging to the gravitational envelope of the lunar body though not orbiting. The clocks of Asgardia remained set to Broxton time and as central-standard wore from evening into night, Loki readied herself for sleep.

She pulled the covers from her bed, casting an illusion of them, and her own sleeping form, in their place before dragging the pile of bedding over to the space beside her large writing desk. She built a nest against the wall, where the desk would prevent it being spotted from the window, and settled down, back to the wall, wondering whether paranoia would be rewarded.

000

Loki awoke to a prick at her finger as one of her warning spells went off. She opened her eyes in time to see an arrow collide with a magical membrane around her bed which flashed bright cyan for half a second, before bouncing the missile to the floor. That was interesting; not one of hers. The sounds of a scuffle could be heard somewhere in the distance, and after a few minutes, Odin appeared in the middle of the room. He stared at the bed for a few seconds and then frowned deeply.

Loki coughed.

Odin turned sharply and spotted her in the shadow of the desk. “ _There_ you are,” he said, visibly relaxing.

“So, is my would-be assassin an agent of Malekith or just an outraged citizen who feels that I have been left breathing too long?” Loki asked in a conversational tone, sitting up a little stiffly.

Odin shook his head. “... Aesir. He will have ample time to contemplate his foolishness from a prison cell.”

“Mhm,” Loki turned her head and was rewarded with a ‘pop’ of relief from the vertebrae in her neck.

“... You did not trust me to protect you?” Odin asked, eyeing her nest.

“You refuse to protect me from that which threatens me _most_ ,” Loki reasoned with a shrug. “But I suppose batting away the trifles is your duty as a father.”

“Loki...” Odin sighed, kneeling down next to Loki’s nest. “I will not slay any part of you,” he said quietly. “And only _you_ can prove to me that the creature in your mother’s vault is no part of you.”

Loki drew her knees up to herself and loosely hugged them, letting out a slow breath. “... I have my work cut out for me then, I suppose,” she said softly. “... There is a problem though. He taunted me this evening. He told me that tomorrow would play host to a terrible event, though he did not tell me what it was.”

“... I see,” Odin said slowly. “And do you think this terrible event will be of his creation?”

Loki shook her head. “I don’t know. But I fear for Thor.”

“He has surrounded himself with many strong warriors,” Odin noted; there was a definite ‘but’ to his tone.

“He is unarmed, in more ways than one,” Loki whispered.

“Aye.”

Loki considered for a moment and then nodded minutely to herself. “I have made something,” she said, rising to her feet and summoning a light. She stepped out of her nest and moved around the desk, pulling it open as Odin stood up behind her. She pulled a handful of vellum pages from the drawer and handed them to Odin.

Odin slowly leafed through them, examining the diagrams and reading through the notations, questions and instructions scrawled on the letters. He nodded approvingly as he perused it and then looked back up at Loki. “The design is quite clever,” he praised.

“It would be better in Uru,” Loki said quietly.

“Indeed,” Odin agreed, handing the pages back to Loki. “When will it be finished?”

“Splitlip promised it to me by morning,” Loki answered.

“Good. Alert me when my presence is needed,” Odin said, clapping Loki on the shoulder.

“Thank you, All Father,” Loki whispered, gazing down at the plans she’d been obsessing over all day.

“... Loki,” Odin called in a softer, more hesitant voice, catching a lock of Loki’s hair between his fingers and staring at it as she looked back up at him.

“All Father?”

“... If I chose poorly for you, and you have felt pained because of it... I am sorry,” he said very quietly.

Loki stared at him for a moment and then looked away, blinking rapidly. “... It might have been easier,” she whispered, breath shaking a little. “So many of the... difficulties with... my predecessor... might have been so easily circumvented had he been your daughter instead of your son.”

Odin was silent for several minutes before asking in a quiet, nearly frail voice, “You aren’t him, are you?”

“... I’m very close,” Loki mumbled, her voice cracking slightly.

“... Is my son is beyond even the reach of Hela now?”

“He dissolved himself into the chaotic aether,” Loki said with a tiny nod, still unable to look at Odin. “But... his soul became mine. Many of his memories were forced upon me. I am very nearly him.”

“No,” Odin said in a soft but firm voice and his hand moved to cosset the hair near Loki’s ear. “You are yourself. You are new. And your fate is your own.” He stepped away and moved to pick up the arrow, all but forgotten on the floor, before making his way to the door. “Sleep, my child. Our _‘oracle’_ declares that tomorrow is to be eventful.”

“... G-goodnight, Father,” Loki called, her voice coming out like a tiny yelp.

“Goodnight, Loki.”

000

“Smarmy little tinkerbelle _punk_...” Clint was growling under his breath.

“To the _pit_ with that fancy pipsqueak!” Ud the Troll agreed, slamming a fist down on the table and denting it.

Clint considered him for a moment, frowning. “Aren’t we at war with the trolls or something?”

“Don’t be _stupid_ , human! You are at war with _Ulik!_ And so is _my_ clan! We will hit him on _both_ fronts and send that _dragon’s turd_ to Hela’s frigid _bosom!_ ”

“... Yeah. We’ll do that thing,” Clint agreed. “Right after we deal with the _elf_ problem.”

“When are elves _not_ a problem?” Ud countered.

“Right after they’re dealt with?”

“HA! I _like_ this human!” Ud declared, clapping Clint on the back, which had the unfortunate side effect of slamming him into the metal table.

“Barton, you’d better not be signing humanity up for any new wars without Steve’s permission,” Sam said, pulling out a chair and sitting down as Clint gasped for air.

“Yes _Mom_ ,” Clint wheezed. “... Wait, is Steve still Mom or are you Mom now?”

“I do not even know how to answer that.”

“ _This_ human does not fear war with Ulik,” Ud said narrowing his eyes at Sam. “What of _you?”_

“I think I want to focus on the Blue Man Group right now, thanks,” Sam replied. “But what that guy did to Broxton _isn’t_ going to go unpunished.”

“See? Sam’s cool,” Clint said, patting Sam’s shoulder as a flutter of movement at one of the door’s caught his eye. “But if that thing craps on me, then I will _revoke_ your cool,” he threatened, nodding toward the little black and white bird zipping into the war room.

Sam looked up and his face went grim. “That’s not a bird.”

“It sure _looks_ like a bird.”

“Well it’s _not_ a bird,” Sam snapped, jumping to his feet. “ _Redwing!_ ”

The hawk dived off its perch on an exposed pipe and snatched the not-bird out of the air with a hawkish shriek. It swooped up just above the floor as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents jumped out of its way and flapped over to Sam, landing awkwardly on his arm while still hanging onto the struggling not-bird in one claw.

“Thank you,” Sam said absently to his hawk as he took the not-bird from it. “What the hell is this?” he murmured, glaring at the creature struggling and pecking madly at him and looking like a completely real and believable bird.

“Captain. I believe that is for me,” Thor called, striding toward them.

“What _is_ it?” Sam asked suspiciously, gripping the not-bird tightly and looking like he was having trouble keeping hold of it.

“A message,” Thor answered, reaching out and tapping a finger against it. The black and white not-bird instantly crumpled-uncrumpled into a rolled up scroll.

“Oh what the _hell_ ,” Sam grimaced. “That _wrong_.”

“May I?”

“ _Please_ ,” Sam nodded, handing the scroll over to Thor.

“So it wasn’t a bird,” Clint noted.

“I told you it wasn’t.”

“You all soil yourselves for such paltry little sorcery tricks,” Ud snorted.

“Yeah well we’re fighting a _sorcerer_ , so you can see how we’d be a bit nervous about _sorcery_ ,” Clint pointed out.

“Bah.”

“Who sent it?” Sam asked, shifting as Redwing crab-walked up his arm and settled itself on his shoulder.

“Loki,” Thor answered, pressing the letter against the table so that he could unroll it one-handed.

Sam was fighting a scowl so hard the tendons of his neck were standing out. “And what does Loki want?”

“... My father has created a weapon for me to carry into this battle,” Thor said softly. “I must go to Asgardia to retrieve it.”

Sam lost his fight to the scowl. “So why exactly didn’t you get this message from _Odin_ then?”

Thor turned to Sam and nodded gravely to him. “I will make great haste. I will return before the hour is out.”

Sam sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “We can do hastier. _Manifold!_ ”

000

Loki sat perched upon a broken column in the ruin garden from which she could make study of the Bifrost. A cloth-wrapped parcel sat in her lap as she tapped a heel against the stone and anxiously watched the bridge. There had been no movement all morning. No one coming, no one going. She had chewed her bottom lip until it was raw from the abuse. No movement as morning wore into day.

_Loki, come to the throne room. Your brother is here._

Loki nearly fell off the pillar. She managed to recover and made a quick path to the throne room, parcel hugged to her chest. Thor hadn’t taken the Bifrost. He still couldn’t fly, could he? One of the Avengers must have brought him. Which one was a teleporter?

As she ran into the throne room, Thor and the Avenger with the excellent baby-dreads turned to look at her. Loki felt a grin splitting her face as she skidded to a stop in front of Thor and tugged the wrappings off the package she had been clutching to her since its arrival from Svartalfheim early that morning.

“Brother, may I see your arm, please?” Loki asked.

Thor’s eyes widened. “Oh Loki...” he whispered, taking in the gleaming uru gauntlet. He’d never had much of an eye for design, but Svartalfheim craftsmanship always made for a stunning sight. He held out the stump of his left arm as Loki moved beside him, pushing back his cape and sliding the prosthetic into place. “How have you accomplished this so swiftly?”

“By saying ‘but _Boneshank_ said he could do it before _sundown!_ ’ and offering lots of gold and things,” Loki said brightly and then began whispering the spells to bond the gauntlet to Thor’s flesh.

“Loki, this is- this...” Thor trailed off, watching the fingers of the gauntlet flex to his will as easily as natural digits. Wonder turned to concern as his eyes moved to Loki’s face. “How... you didn’t...?”

“I never left Asgardia,” Loki assured him quickly, wrapping her smaller hands around Thor’s new uru one. “I did it all by mail. It would have gone much faster if I’d been able to go harass the dwarves in person, but I stayed right here, just like you asked.”

Loki was suddenly wrapped up in Thor’s arms, being hugged fiercely. She grinned again so wide it was uncomfortable and pushed herself up on her toes pressing her face against his collar and wrapping her arms around Thor’s neck. “How does it feel?” she asked softly. “Any discomfort?”

“No. It is warm,” Thor whispered back. “Thank you, Loki.”

“Take better care of it than the first one,” Loki ordered.

“Aye,” Thor agreed and chuckled, releasing her. “Thank you,” he said again, catching the side of Loki’s jaw as she reluctantly sank back to her feet. “You know, I still would have come if you’d said that _you_ had something to give me,” he said, looking her in the eye.

“But your comrades would have made a stink,” Loki retorted. “I lied to you so that you didn’t have to lie to them.”

Thor dropped his real hand down to her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “And I still won’t lie. I will proudly tell them who is to thank for this gift,” he said.

“Then they will think it is a _bomb_ ,” Loki said with a smirk.

“And they will see me fail to explode,” Thor replied, returning the look.

“Well then surely it will be said that I did not give you enough firepower and willfully sent you into battle poorly outfitted,” Loki countered.

“I shall be better armed than any of them.”

“Oh _no!_ No, Brother, not _puns!_ ” Loki wailed but found she was giggling despite herself.

Thor laughed and swept Loki up into another tight hug. “I shall remove Malekith’s vile head and return to you with all alacrity I can muster,” Thor promised. “It will be a victory to sing of and I shall toast you when it is in _hand_.”

“ _Stop_ it! You’re not _funny!_ ” Loki laughed, kicking her feet in the air.

He set her down and put both hands on her shoulders, leaning down so that their noses were almost touching and staring right into Loki’s eyes. “I must go. Stay here. Stay safe,” he said very softly.

“... Yes,” Loki agreed, frozen to the spot.

“Thank you.” Thor straightened up and turned to excellent-baby-dreads-Avenger. “We should return before they win the war without us, Manifold,” he said with a grin, walking over to him. “Father, thank you,” he nodded to Odin, watching quietly from his throne.

“Fight well, Thor,” Odin replied, returning the nod.

“We will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, the cliff-hanger from the last chapter still stands! Sorry, but at least I'm motoring along pretty quick now, right?
> 
> So with Roxxon stuck in the ice-tower? I'm just kind of going with the conceit that that attack happened in a little different order and the Avengers didn't get there until after Malekith & co. were gone, thus they tore through with less resistance and made a good surgical strike on it. Also, I've decided I don't have any use for female-Thor in this fic so I'm going to ignore that whole business.
> 
> Uru is the special god-metal that's super strong and super heavy and only Odin can make happen. Back in Fear Itself, the Ironman tie-ins had a Tony and the seven dwarfs thing going and after they made a bunch of groovy weapons Odin showed up and made a vat of stuff and they dipped what I guess was steel or iron stuff into the vat and it came out solid uru or something. Must be magic, because it sure as hecks isn't science!
> 
> So some character notes- I'm not completely sure what Coulson's official job-title in 616 is, I think he might be the deputy-director? Apparently he deals with the stuff nobody else can or will (like Loki, Noh-varr, Deadpool, the whales...). 'Mancha' is Victor Mancha from Runaways, he's been hanging around Hank Pym (his 'grandfather') since the Runaways got a little nebulous. I wrote him with italicized speech because in-comics he gets square speech-bubbles so I wanted to do something to make his lines look a little bit weird (or wired?). He's not generally billed as one of the genius people, but he _is_ an extremely sophisticated computer, so I think he's probably got a skill for computations. Ud is from the League of Realms from Thor: God of Thunder last spring. Manifold is from the Secret Warriors and more recently is in the Avengers World lineup. I'm not completely sure if his powers are magic-based or if he's a mutant, because Gateway hung out with X-Force, which kind of says mutant to me, but you can't _teach_ mutation, so having an apprentice is a little confusing. Possibly some writers got their continuity crossed at some point or something.


End file.
